


The Uncertain

by legendarytobes



Category: Smallville
Genre: Future Fic, Mpreg, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-26
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2017-10-31 18:23:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 132,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/347059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendarytobes/pseuds/legendarytobes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Third in a series of MPreg novels about Clark's son, Connor Kent, and the rest of his growing Kryptonian family. In this book, Connor's gotten himself pregnant after a one time indiscretion with his ex-fiance, Cassandra Carpenter while Clark and Chloe are expecting their second bundle of Kryptonian-meteor mutant joy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Uncertain by Tobywolf13  
Summary:  
Third in a series about Clark, Chloe, and their son Connor Sullivan Kent (Kon-El).

The first novel in the series, The Unexpected, can be found here - http://effulgentandsmokingcool.svtometropolis.com/viewstory.php?sid=122

The second novel in the series, The Unresolved, can be found here - http://effulgentandsmokingcool.svtometropolis.com/viewstory.php?sid=186

Years ago, in an alternate seasons seven and eight, Clark realized there was a power he didn't even know he had, an embarassing one---the ability to become pregnant. It leaves him with Lana's child as she leaves him and drifts dangerously close to Lex and with Chloe to pick up the slack and help him through a troubled pregnancy. Fifteen years after that, their son, Connor, learns about his origins, freaks out, and spends his own tenure under Lana's spell before declaring himself firmly a Kent and a Sullivan, too.

Now, decades later---for Clark, Chloe and their children are beyond long-lived, considering their parents' abilities---Connor's made a serious mistake and gotten himself pregnant without even being able to tell who the mother is, his best friend and ex-fiance Cass Carpenter or his JLA teammate Wondergirl. Chloe does her best to deal with the fallout while Clark's away off-world on a League mission. While Connor learns how difficult what his father went through actually was and tries to repair his broken relationship with his child's mother, upon Clark's eventual return, he and Chloe celebrate and become the expectant parents of a third bundle of Kryptonian joy...

Chapter 1 by Tobywolf13  
Author's Notes:  
The story is told with competing timelines. The first half of the chapters is always from the past, around Connor's first years at college usually, and the second half takes place in present time as Connor deals with his pregnancy. I decided to do that not only to try a different technique but also to give the readers a glimpse of how he matured---or didn't sometimes---during the fifty year time gap between The Unresolved and The Uncertain.  
Pratt Institute, New York City – November, 2027 

“I don’t think we should do this,” Cass said, disentangling herself from him and sitting up in his bed.

Kon blinked dumbly back at her. “What?”

She sighed and looked down at her hands. “Kon, I don’t think we should.”

He sat up and blinked more. This time it had less to do with shock and more to do with the itchiness of his eyes that he just couldn’t stop. Fucking hormones. “What? Look I thought when, you know, you came to visit from Columbia and we both had the weekend off from the Titans and we’d been dating for two years and had waited long enough for no more of my dad walking in on us---“

Cassie grinned a little, despite herself, “Your dad could hear us in The Tower.”

“You know what I mean. It’s college, my own room, nowhere we have to be on Sunday morning.”

“Of course it’s your own room, oh mighty scion of LuthorCorp.”

Kon narrowed his eyes at her. “It’s a technicality since I am almost nineteen. It’s just, Cass, you know I can’t share a room.”

She nodded. “Well maybe you could find a roommate who’d appreciate the floating thing.”

“Yeah, right,” he snorted. “I know the last time we tried this things didn’t go so well.”

“You set your bedroom curtains on fire.”

“I know,” he replied. “I’m sorry.”

“Well you don’t want to set the dorm on fire.”

“You could fix it.”

She swallowed and started to pace. “I know, but it’s a risk. I mean it’d be really weird if you set your room on fire before you even got to your first set of finals.”

“I think you can handle it. You basically saved the curtains the last time. Besides, if I did burn it down, I can buy them a new building---several of them.”

“Oh no doubt, not that your mom and dad would let you.”

“No.”

“But it’s like, Kon, you really shouldn’t test the limits. If you think your dad breaking us up sucks, wait until it’s the New York City fire department.”

Kon had gone from feeling itchy in his eyes to suddenly feeling nauseated. “My powers? This is about my powers?”

“I…yes exactly,” she replied, hesitating too long. It wasn’t about his powers at all.

“You’re full of shit, Cass.”

“I am not! It’s about your powers. Totally, scary bed scorching powers!”

“No, you’re the last person on Earth to be afraid of my powers, and since you’re like a human fire extinguisher anyway.”

She kept pacing and shuddered a little. “It’s totally about powers. This is about not hurting your dorm room, I swear.”

Kon smiled to himself and blurred into reality next to her, grabbing her shoulders and then waiting until she looked up at him. “What’s it really about? Don’t go to the lame ‘you might set stuff on fire’ well. I mean, dad and Aunt Kara don’t leave scorched earth everywhere.”

“But you could.”

He eased one finger under her chin. “I promise not to set anything on fire. What’s really bothering you?”

“I…we can’t undo this.”

“As far as I’ve heard, nope.”

She blushed but didn’t break eye contact. “We’ve been best friends since we were eight. This could really ruin things. What if we break up? Maybe we shouldn’t add the extra stuff.”

“We’ve been dating for over a year, Cass. That’s ‘extra stuff.’”

She gulped and he could feel the temperature in the room begin to drop. She always did that when she got nervous. “But this is so much more extra stuff, Kon. I don’t know if we should. What if we end up hating each other or something?”

He leaned closer and let his breath hit her cheek. “Could you ever hate me?”  
“I dunno. You were pretty insufferable when you went through the ‘woe is me, I’m an alien kangaroo’ phase in freshman year.”

“I’m serious,” he said stroking her hair back behind her ear with his left hand. “I couldn’t imagine anything ever coming between us. This would just be better.”

“Kon, I---“ 

He leaned in all the way and kissed her then and after a few frighteningly long seconds, she relaxed in his grip and kissed back, her hands straying down his shoulders and to his chest. Kon felt it, that mix of sensations racing through his body. Surging from his stomach, up to his eyes was a flash of heat, something so intense that he had to clamp his eyes shut to keep it from escaping. At the same time, he could feel the goosebumps spreading up his arms as the tantalizing chill ran through his lips. 

Both of them were so worked up.

Cass broke apart first and he moaned a little at his frustration. “Kon?” she asked, placing her hand on his cheek and he swore he could hear steam hiss. 

“Cass, I’m sorry,” he replied, clenching his eyelids for all they were worth. “I can do this. I just can’t see you. I’m sorry I can’t keep them open.”

“No, I mean,” she said, hesitating. “Are you okay?”

“Well a little frustrated,” he quipped, walking her backwards and toward his bed. Early morning fumbling for class and a room at Pratt the size of a shoebox helped make navigation possible.

She sighed and fell back against his hips when he sunk onto the bed. “No, I…there’s frost on your t-shirt.”

It was the most hesitant he’d ever heard Cassie sound. Hardly anything floored her, whether it was the annoyances of daily life, meteor mutants, or the thugs they ran across during Titans duty. She was hardly ever unsure, even with him.

Kon reached up and stroked her arms, enjoying the novelty of actually being able to feel a chill. “Ice planet. You’ve seen the Fortress. That’s like summer where dad is from.”

“I,” she started, still rigid in his grasp.

He pulled her down, using a little of his strength against her and kissed her chin. It would have been more romantic if he’d reached her lips but he could only fumble so well with his eyes shut and a familiar itch distracting him. “Let’s make a deal. If something I do cause of my, you know---“

“Alien kangaroo status?”

“Yeah, if anything I do freaks you out or hurts, let me know. If I feel something I don’t like, I promise I’ll tell you and we’ll figure it out.”

“I think I am making your arms turn blue a little. You can’t see it,” she hissed.

He grinned and moved up to her mouth, kissing her then. “It feels amazing.”

“Yeah right.”

He used his ears, extending his hearing and following the sound of her blood flowing up her neck, kissing her pulse point and reaching to her ear lobe. “Definitely right.”

She shivered under his ministrations. “Oh man, Phoenix, you are burning through my inhibitions.”

He smiled and wished he could see her reaction but it wasn’t how he could do this safely. He’d have to take comfort in hearing her blood rushing through her veins as she blushed, feeling the chill spread across the room with her own unbridled emotions roiling. 

Kon nodded and started reaching under the hem of her t-shirt. “Already? Ice Queen, give me a few hours.”

Cassie giggled and broke contact long enough to shed her top and bra. He could hear the clasp unhooking in record time. “Someone’s optimistic.”

His grin widened as he pulled her in for another long kiss. “Definitely.”  
***

Kon woke up first, hovering almost to the ceiling with Cassie gripped tightly in his arms. Not that a fall of five feet onto a mattress would do much to a person, let alone a meteor mutant as powerful as she was. Still, it would have been rude to have dropped her middle of the night. He sighed looking at the scorch mark on the ceiling. Maybe he should ask his mom if it’d be okay to take a little out of his trust fund to encourage discretion from Pratt. It wasn’t his fault. He just was going to have to work harder to control his heat vision.

Not that he really wanted to.

The combination of his heat vision run amok and Cassie’s own ability felt really awesome.

It just wasn’t benefitting his dorm room. His ceiling was scorched---albeit not by much because Cassie had been quick on the draw as he knew she would be---and there was a thin sheen of frost covering everything he owned. Kon shook his head as he eyed his laptop. Barbara Gordon was going to have to do some serious mojo to save his hard drive (He was not explaining to mom or to Uncle Victor why he needed the help). Kon was also pretty sure he might have dented the wall during round two.

Just a little.

Small dent.

He could plaster that right up, no problem.

Cassie sighed and blinked up at him. “It’s early.”

“Solar powered,” Kon quipped. “It’s already six, that’s late on a farm.”

She burrowed tighter to his shoulder. “Too early.”

He leaned forward carefully and kissed her forehead. “I was awoken by your perfect beauty.”

She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Bad one, Kon, bad one. Although,” she added, snuggling against him. “A girl could get used to this. Mo and Alura are right. Mattresses are apparently overrated.”

He chuckled. “I’m glad you trusted me not to drop you.”

“Well it wasn’t a plummet of death and whoa!” she shouted, looking at the mess around them, the way most of his electronics had anywhere ranging from frost to flat out ice caked on them. He almost dropped her when she tried to sit up. 

“Um, do you want to uh…I’m probably gonna need a minute to land you know?”

Despite herself, Cass’s tone was more amused when she spoke. “You can’t get down?”

“I just…when I get really relaxed it’s harder to get down. I had a really good time last night.”

“I bet,” she said, sighing. “Kon, I think I ruined your TV and your computer.”

“Meh, I can buy a new TV and Barbara owes me a favor. She can save the hard drive.” He looked back at her and she looked away, self conscious. “Don’t do that.”

“I really fucked your place up.”

“I put a hole in the wall and scorched the ceiling. Look, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. We both helped make a mess.”

Cass nodded but kept focusing on a spot on his desk that must have been fascinating. “I made your place look like freaking Alaska.”

“No, just a little frost,” he replied, kissing her forehead again. “Look, I unleashed the equivalent power-wise of a flame thrower in the middle of making love and then you woke up five feet above the mattress. It’s, uh, not conventional.”

“But the floating thing is fun and it’s a total turn on to know I can make you do that with the heat vision.”

Kon blushed. “Well, I like what you do, so it evens out, like we’re made for each other.”

She snorted. “That’s so corny.”

He didn’t think it made it less true. “Cass, you were great. Forget about it. It’ll be clean in no time and we’ll just work on less collateral damage.”

“I’m still such a fre---“

He smiled and hugged her tighter. “We both are.” Then shrugging added, “I think it works for us.”  
***

Seven Weeks Later 

“Cass, I’m fine. I just can’t do the MoMA today like I promised. Can I rain check?”

“Kon, no one’s seen you since we got back from the, you know,” she hissed from outside his door.

The “you know” was an impromptu code for “the Vega system.” Some of the Titans, him and Cassie included, had been away for a week on an off world mission to stop a dictatorship from rising. It was a favor to one of his uncles in the Lanterns. He’d taken a hard hit from an alien that was a mix of the one from the Sigourney Weaver movies and a rhinoceros and hadn’t felt right since. He’d been hoping that getting back under the yellow sun would make the cramps and the random bleeding stop. He was afraid the hit he’d taken had ruptured something. He couldn’t go to a real doctor of course but he couldn’t go to Dr. Emil either. Dr. Emil would tell his mom, she’d heal him cause that was how his mom was, and then she’d spend probably a month out cold cause healing Kryptonians wasn’t something Fawkes was supposed to do.

He was going to be fine. The bleeding was slowing and the cramps were better. There was no need to drag his mom into it. Mo was a very busy three-year-old. They really couldn’t afford for mom to take a month off. Besides Mo was bright, mom just being gone all of a sudden would scare her.

So he was just holed up in his room with his heating pad and a lot of nails, waiting for his own self healing to kick in.

“I’m just not feeling so good, okay?” He groaned when he heard Cass snap his lock. Having the equivalent of liquid nitrogen on hand did make locks an afterthought. 

“You’re never sick. You were supposed to go to Watchtower after we got home. You know protocol,” she finished, shutting the door behind her.

“Protocol means mom insists on healing me and feels like crap for a month, no thanks.”

“If you’re really hurt, that’s Fawkes’s job.”

He sighed and pulled his blanket---the old chenille one his grandma knitted for him----up to his chin. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine. You look pretty fucking pale.”

“I’m okay really. I just…don’t tell anyone.”

“Sentences that start out like that are bad.”

“I think I ruptured something. I’m bleeding and stuff but it’s a lot better than it was when I got back!”

Cassie sighed and pulled his desk chair next to his bed. Reaching out, she stroked his bangs back from his forehead. “You’re what?”

“Bleeding. It’s tapering off. It’ll hurt my mom to heal me and it’s really getting better. Please, you can’t tell anyone, not even Alura. She’ll squeal.”

“Kon, last time I sat on something for you, it blew up in all our faces.”

He sighed and curled up smaller under his blanket. “It’s not the Luthors. It’s just cramps, Cass. I heal. I’ll be fine in a few more days.”

“Why would you even…a week’s a long time.”

“But it’s better,” he huffed, raising up the edge of his blanket and waiting until she crawled up next to him. “Please. I’m asking you.”

“I don’t think this is good for you.”

“I’m better, I swear. Just give me three more days to see if it final stops completely.”

“I really should go to Emil myself.”

“Please,” he begged, nuzzling against her shoulder. “Three days and I promise.”

“You have three days, Kon.” She sighed and patted the top of his head. “You know what it could be, maybe?”

“Large alien rupturing my spleen?”

“Do you have a spleen?”

“Uh, I dunno, maybe?” He said, not sure what they hell was in there. However it worked, at his last physical the Fortress had been satisfied. “What do you think it could be?”

“I just…” she started, blushing.

“What?”

“Well, you know, it has been almost two months since we, ah, got more intimate.”

“I am confused. This has what to do with someone body slamming me three galaxies over?”

“Well, you didn’t…we didn’t actually use protection the first time and, you know, it’s very Kryptonian of you if you were, you know…”

Kon bolted up in bed and hissed at the stitch in his side. “You think I’m what here. Cause I’m connecting the dots and I think it sounds stupid.”

“Well, I mean, you’re probably not supposed to stop insurrections in outer space if you’re pregnant.”

The chair beneath Cassie began to shake and Kon took a deep breath, forcing his telekinesis to calm. “I’m not!”

Cass bit her lip. “Well not now . You have to admit, timing wise, you could be miscarrying.”

“Half-human. It doesn’t work that way,” he gruffed, rolling over on his side and facing the wall. “I’m just sore.”

Cassie didn’t say anything after that but did spend the next three days until the bleeding stopped, caring for him, attentive even for her.

He appreciated the help and the deference but her theory was stupid. He was just injured; he couldn’t do that .  
**

The U.S. Supreme Court, Washington, D.C. – February 8, 2078 

“Kon, what the fuck are you doing here?” Cassie hissed, pulling him into a side hall and away from other people. “How did you even get in?”

He sighed. “Superspeed, remember? I had to see you!”

“I have a case in forty minutes, and I don’t want to see you. I thought by not returning your calls for a month, I’d made that clear.”

“I know so I had to come all the way out here from freaking San Francisco just to get your attention. Cass, what the hell? We made love and then you don’t call and pretend everything’s status quo on League duty?”

She narrowed her eyes and checked her watch. “I have opening arguments in thirty-eight minutes. I’m giving you three.”

That was part of being an immortal being. Sometimes when you switched lives, you branched out into new careers. He’d never given up art and Mo was happy in journalism as were his parents. Jax, however, this time around was getting a medical degree for the hell of it and probably working his way into biomedical engineering. Alura wasn’t actively excavating all over the country anymore but, with Nala and Max around the house, had decided to work as a curator for a letters collection on Native American studies out in Berkley. Cass, after two successful shots at journalism---one at The Daily Planet and the other for The Los Angeles Times ---had gotten Bruce to make a call at Princeton. He got her in the door for her third go around at a career. She’d been the one to get on law review and clerking for the state supreme court of New Jersey by “thirty.”

It wasn’t that Cassie didn’t love journalism. He was pretty sure she still did. It was just that pointing out corruption wasn’t enough anymore. She was one of the best meta rights attorneys in the country. 

And she was staring at him like he was up at cross examination.

“Like I was saying,” he started again, lowering his voice. “We made love.”

“We fucked, Kon. You came over on New Year’s. You were drunk off of something Anna Fortune concocted and I was weak. It was a nice fuck but that’s all it was.”

“Didn’t feel like it to me!”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Then what did it feel like? Did a choir of angels sing at the end? Figure out the meaning of life in between coming?”

He stepped back like she’d pulled out Green K on him. “It’s us, Cass. It was good to be us again.”

She shook her head and checked her watch. “Two minutes. We haven’t been an ‘us’ in over a decade Kon and you did that, not me. So one night of me being weak and you being high doesn’t change one fucking thing.”

“I love you!”

“Wrong answer. You had sex with Wondergirl the night before in fucking Watchtower. You don’t think I didn’t know?”

He gulped. “I…who told you?”

“Anna has a big mouth. It doesn’t matter. You what? Decided to fuck everyone named Cassie you knew? Get a pair between me and Sandsmark?”

“No, it wasn’t like that---“

“One minute,” she snapped, picking her briefcase back up. “You haven’t changed one bit, Kon. Look the League matters. We agreed almost fourteen years ago not to let personal bullshit keep us from doing our jobs. We work well on security council but after this…I just can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“I’m asking The Batman for leave. If there’s an Apocalypse, he can beep me, but I’m not going to be able to see you for meetings every week or in the middle of a crisis and think clearly. I just am not made that way.”

“But you’ve been one of the big names for the League for twenty five years! Terry’d never let you off.” he hissed, always mindful of secrecy.

“And I fight things in different ways right now. Your mom, J’onn and Terry all thought it was a good idea. It’s not as if it’s permanent, maybe just a year or two to get past this mess.”

“We’re not a mess.”

“We‘re fucking three mile island, Kon. I gotta go. Do not call me and do not stop by Washington again,” she huffed, turning back to the main hall.

“I love you.”

Wrong thing to say.

She spun on her heels and glared at him; Kon could feel the chill sweeping through the hallway. “No, you don’t. You don’t humiliate people you love, and you leave them be when they ask for space.”

“Cass!” he said, reaching out for her arm, frustrated when she pulled back.

“No, don’t touch me,” she said. “You’re just like your mother.”

“Mom never slept around on dad and I can explain this. It’s not what it looks like, I swear.” For the first time since he’d known her and felt the extent of her powers, he didn’t like the goosebumps spreading over his skin. 

“Not that mother,” she snapped. “Lana’d be proud, Kon, now see yourself out.”  
Back to index  
Chapter 2 by Tobywolf13  
Pratt Institute of Art - January 22, 2028 

Kon opened the door to his room and was surprised to find his cousin Alura sitting at his desk, reading through an old book of Grandpa Joseph's. She was supposed to be back in Smallville for one thing. For another, she didn't usually visit him. Alura might have been a basically indestructable thirteen year old, but it wouldn't make his uncle or aunt any happier that she was alone in the larges city in the country.

"Do I need to call your parents?"

Alura blinked back at him, large blue eyes made even bigger by her thick glasses. 

Unlike his father's, they were not for show.

Things in mutts didn't line up right. Jax was hard to tell what he did or didn't get. It didn't matter now, since he'd been stripped of most of his abilities several years ago. Before then, the blue K he'd worn most of his life had left him glitching. Kon's hearing and smell, but especially his hearing, were painfully acute and tended to flare up despite his efforts to quell them. Alura was allergic to fabric softener.

And, while she one day would probably get heat and X-Ray vision, she didn't see 20/20 without her glasses.

As superbeings went, they sometimes left something to be desired compared to their parents.

"I'm supposed to be in Granville for two more hours."

"This doesn't look like Granville."

"I told Grandpa Joseph I had to leave from tutoring early."

"Somehow I don't think that New York was where you said you were going," he finished setting his back pack down and sitting on his bed. "Lur, just because we can go anywhere we want, doesn't mean we should."

She nodded, her large eyes solemn. "It's not like I flew to London or something."

"You wouldn't!"

"Of course not!" She replied indignantly. "I don't ever sneak out. I just came here, slipped into your dorm room, and waited for you to come home."

"I know and, Lur, that's sweet but it's New York and you're a little kid."

"I'm thirteen not four, and exactly who is gonna mess with me?" She emphasized her point by making one of his coffee mugs on his dresser explode while still perusing her book.

"Okay, I mean, I know you could beat someone up in a variety of ways or be to Alaska in a blink, but it doesn't make it right. Your mom and dad would be really upset. I have to call them."

"Then I have to tell Aunt Chloe and Uncle Kal that you lied."

Kon frowned. "I didn't lie."

She put her book down on his desk and crossed her arms over her chest. "Cassie told Jax and Jax told me. Your stomach has been hurting you."

"Cassie wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"No, she promised not to tell Aunt Chloe and Uncle Kal. She told Jax and then he mentioned it to me when he was dropping off an article I asked for from Boston University. He said you'd been bleeding."

"Fuck. You two didn't tell anyone did you?"

"No, he didn't like run to The Batman or anything."

Kon blinked. "Huh?"

She rolled her eyes. Alura was quiet and sensitive, but she was still thirteen. Eye roll was one of her default settings. "I know ."

"Since when did Aunt Kara tell you about League stuff. You're way too young for that."

Alura frowned and took off her glasses, polishing them with the hem of her t-shirt. "I could be a Titan in three years if I wanted to."

"I---"

"You and Cassie are. Jax was one forever."

"Did Aunt Kara make a chart or something?"

"No, I'm just not stupid. Supergirl and Superman are clearly Mom and Uncle Kal. I hate to tell you this, but mask or not, I can tell that you and 'Phoenix' are the same guy."

Kon didn't know where to go from there. "I...does Aunt Kara know you know?"

She shrugged. "Everyone thinks I'm still too young to get this stuff. I'm not. Big alien family secret. Not that hard to figure out. I mean, the Kawatchee practically throw parades."

Kon was frozen with his mouth half open. He was a better liar than his father, but who wasn't? All his instincts were screaming at him to deny. He knew for sure his aunt and uncle hadn't had "the talk" with Alura. 

So, in all his infinite wisdom, Kon just said "Huh?"

"Graham Ravenfeather's grandma ambushed me one day about a year ago with the 'you're the Numan, save the tribe' spiel and then Grandpa Joseph copped to it when I pressed him. I didn't know what I was supposed to do with that. I figured if mom and dad hadn't said anything they were saving it for a reason. Besides, Grandpa Joseph has all this stuff that he and Uncle Kal used to research on the Numan. It was keeping me busy for a while, all my questions answered."

"All?"

"Well not all," she conceded. "I just figured if mom and dad hadn't broached it yet, I wasn't supposed to know."

"A year?"

"Fourteen months technically."

"You had all that just sitting on you and you didn't tell anyone until me?"

She nodded and slipped her glasses back on. "I had Grandpa Joseph and I didn't want to worry everyone."

"Worry?"

"They told you when Uncle Kal got pregnant, didn't they? It's why you were such an asshole about everything."

He had the decency to blush. "Yeah, I was."

"Maybe mom thought I'd go postal too. I don't know. It's not like it was fun the last time it came up."

"No, but it was just dropped on you and you didn't even let us know."

"I didn't want to freak anyone out, and, yeah, it's scary but I was mostly worried I was from the House of Zod or, you know, maybe an Ur."

"What?"

"I just felt better knowing we're not conquers or that we didn't cause the end of Krypton."

"Dax-Ur didn't exactly do that."

She sighed and nodded. "I know he didn't exactly. I'm not a moron. You think I'd hold something that stupid against Jax?"

"No."

"Precisely. He can't help it anymore than you can help being a squirrel."

"Half," Kon replied, laughing a little. "No, he can't. He's pretty...it's hard. I haven't heard him mention his dad since he found out about how the Brainiac stuff went down."

"I know, but it's not a bad thing. I mean, it's weird and it's scary being that alone out here, but knowing that I'm Kryptonian didn't make me grow stalk eyes."

"That's very zen."

She shrugged. "I figured when I got to high school mom would tell me like Uncle Kal told you. I just didn't want to worry anyone."

"Because I drove everyone nuts."

"Yes, basically."

"You just took it for all these months cause the last one of us to get initiated in the Phone Home Club freaked out that badly?"

"I had the tribe. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm Kryptonian. Most of my family are superheroes---except for my dad cause he's normal---and El men get pregnant."

"I'm not."

She nodded. "Oh I know. I meant Uncle Kal for you and Mo, but Jax didn't get it to click for him cause he's so Jax. Cassie told him about the bleeding and he told me. He thinks it's an internal thing too."

"Giant rhinoceros alien thing attacking me and a red sun equals pain."

"Probably but you never know with us. Are you at least better now?"

"I haven't had any cramps in three days and haven't bled in five, mom ."

"No need to get mean. I came half way across the country to see how you were. I was scared. We don't get sick, except for me and Snuggle."

Kon laughed and hugged his cousin. "Well he is fearsome. Secret enemy of aliens everywhere. It's like you and that Predator who can't withstand the softness."

"Funny, Kon."

"A little. Look, I'm fine. I feel better than I have since we went on mission."

"Good. I just...if you have to go to somebody and you can't cause Jax talks too much and it's somethign that you don't think someone else would get like mom or Uncle Kal, I'm here. I'm not nine anymore."

"I know that now. Do you want me to let Aunt Kara know you have it all figured out?"

Alura considered it. "You don't have to. We can wait a little longer. It's kind of neat that no one caught on."

"We could just be really self centered."

"Or I'm an amazing actress."

Kon sighed and reached for his cell phone. "I do have to let them know you're here. You know I do."

"I know."

"But we can go out to the museum of natural history if you'd like, you can lecture me on archaelogy."

She grinned and, god, his cousin was going to be beautiful one day, break hearts and everything. "Cool."

"You're pretty okay with imminent grounding," he said, standing back up and grabbing his jacket.

"I was really worried about you. The fact you're not still hurt and I got to see it makes up for everything."

"I'm sorry, pri ."

"Why?" she asked, standing and shoving his chair into place under his desk.

"Cause you're such a good actress."

"Huh?"

"You'll see some day, pri , you'll see."  
***

Berkley, California --- February 9, 2078 

"I know you're there," Alura replied, her eyes never straying from where her daugher Nala was helping her little brother Max refine his stopping. Max was almost six and had just developed his speed. Stopping was easy. Doing it without crashing was hard still. Kon still tip toed across the deck's expanse and looked out at his younger cousins. 

"They're cute," he said, tone wistful.

"Imagining the carefree days?" Alura deadpanned.

"Not completely."

"Nala is twelve and a half. Jax and I have already had a few conversations about exactly what we want to tell her."

Kon nodded. He figured that was coming. "And?"

Alura's grip on the railing tightened enough to splinter the wood. "We're both agreed we'll give Max over to Aunt Chloe and Uncle Kal for the weekend and take time with her, probably by March. Most of the galaxy far, far away stuff we agree on."

"Then I'm confused."

"It's the grandparent thing."

"Nala knows that we're 'infected' and that's why Aunt Kara looks young but isn't. I mean, she gets why Uncle Jimmy's old but none of us are."

Alura nodded but didn't speak for a while. "Well it's not like Mary's around anymore and Dax-Ur's been dead since before you were born."

"I know."

"But I wanted to tell her about Jax's side. She carries his name after all."

Kon frowned. "I'm not sure I get the problem."

She turned and looked up at him. "Jax doesn't want to tell her about Dax-Ur. He certainly doesn't want to explain how his dad got here or his relation to Brainiac."

"I thought---"

She sighed. "Me too. I think she should know. His whole House isn't defined by one mistake."

"Not that we have Houses much anymore. It's just the eight of us and we're all intermarried. We don't care."

" Jax cares. We'll work it out. It's hard enough doing this but I know everything about Dax-Ur just makes Jax feel horrible. I don't want my kids to feel that way. It's not like Zod didn't help with his genocide campaign. And it's so hard to...she's happy."

"Yeah, welcome to the Kent Household. Hit puberty and get the weight of two worlds on your shoulders," he riposted, squeezing her shoulder. "She'll be okay."

"If Jax and I can agree on things," she replied.

"Hey, why not leave Max with your mom and dad?"

Alura paused and looked back at Nala, who was now engaged in tickling Max half to death. "Sweetie?"

"Yes mom!" Nala shouted from across the backyard. "Oh hi Uncle Kon."

"Hey guys," he replied, waving a little.

"Nala, take your brother downstairs. You two can play some Wii, alright?"

Kon had to grin at kids with infinite strength and speed being entertained by video games. Not that he hadn't loved Halo as a kid until the big secret had come out. It was more that when you could already fly by six months, you think the continued adventures of a certain plumber wouldn't hold much sway.

Nala nodded and Kon watched her grab her brother and run off. Someone else would have seen a blur. 

Following his cousin into her kitchen, he frowned. "Also, so, what gives?"

"Huh?"

"Hurrying the rugrats off when I asked about Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy. Is everything alright?"

Alura sighed but kept pulling out and prepping the mugs to microwave some tea. "Mom's fine."

"I saw Aunt Kara four days ago in downtown Shanghai. She was fine enough to hold up collapsing buildings. You know that's not who I mean. She's not pushing 89."

She nodded but still kept her focus aimed on the microwave until it dinged. Kon knew she was playing for time. He didn't drink tea except as a nicety to her, not to mention he could have just heat visioned his own cup in five seconds. Still, it was her tale to tell, so he waited calmly for the microwave to ding and for the old cow mug to be placed in front of him.

"I know."

"Why can't Max stay with your dad?"

"Dad's not up to superspeed anymore."

"No, well Max would be hard to deal with and he even needs a cane, I get that."

Alura sipped her drink. "No, I mean not physically deal with the speed."

"There's a mental way too?"

"I...about three months ago, I went to Metropolis to visit with Dad. Mom had something she was doing that weekend for the Birds of Prey as a favor. So I thought someone should just be around to keep an eye on him. You know that stupid joke about 'I've fallen and I can't get up?'"

"Yeah."

"Not as funny when your dad really could end up in traction from a stumble." She paused and drained half her cup before resuming. "He though I was my mom."

Kon blinked. "Huh?"

"He thought I was mom when I came to the door. I know we look alike, duh, but he just started talking to me about how he'd been waiting all day for me to get back off from The Talon and that I had some serious explaining to do."

"I...maybe he..."

 

"No, he took me straight to their room and started pulling mom's uniform out of the closet. He must have thrown like four Superwoman outfits on the bed before I finally calmed him down enough to stop. He was demanding to know if I was Superwoman."

"Maybe it was a bad day?" he offered.

"He couldn't tell me from mom. He thought it was still back when mom was a barrista and he doesn't remember ever being in on the Krypton stuff. Kon, come on!"

"Well what did you do?"

"Mom was off in Gotham and needed. I did what I could. I spent three hours explaining who I was and where Kara Kent Olsen was currently and that dad knew about Krypton and Superman and Superwoman and had for over sixty years."

"And that snapped him out of it?"

Alura swallowed and set her tea down. Kon watched the light fixture overhead sway and noticed the lights flicker. "He got super agitated and kept insisting I was Kara. I had to kiss him to calm him down." She blushed. "I don't mean like that. I Lethed him. I gave him a kiss on his forehead to take the whole incident away. He slept the rest of the night and when we ate breakfast in the morning, I humored him by letting him tell me about the next One Republic concert he and Colin from the Life and Style section were planning go to."

"What?"

"Well what was I supposed to do, Kon? He's lucid a little but most of the time he thinks it's back in his Planet glory days before he even knew about who mom really is. When I tried correcting him on it and bringing the New Council of Krypton up, he freaked out. So I went with it."

"Well does your mom know?"

"Of course she knows. It's been bad for the better part of a year, but we've been so busy here on the west coast and I just didn't realize he'd lost that. It makes sense though. Mom insisted we go out for Thanksgiving dinner and we spent Christmas this year at a big reunion with Jax's stepfather's cousins and family. She picked something that random so Nala and Max couldn't use their powers around him."

"How long do you think she was gonna try hiding it?"

"I don't know how long she was planning to. If she hadn't had to leave dad with someone, it probably would have been longer. I...he doesn't even know who I am, Kon. Of course he can't...he's just so confused." He stood up then and scooped her up in a hug and let her cry, waiting for several minutes until she could speak again. She hicupped a little as she talked. "I knew this had to come. Humans don't live forever."

"But can't the Fortress do something?"

"Bastard and mom and your parents fixed it."

Kon kept holding her but pulled apart enough to frown at her. "What?"

"When they renewed their vows about six years ago. He made Uncle Kal access the Fortress for him. He's on a basic DNR list. No special Kryptonian medical interventions ever."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because," she finished, breaking away and slumping into her chair. "Humans get to grow old and die. That's how it works, Kon."

"But you and your mom!"

"Kon, he's human. He doesn't deserve for things to be drawn out. He knew that this was coming when he asked my mom to marry him. So the Fortress won't interfere cause it was programmed not to."

"I could change that or Mo---"

"It's what my dad really wanted. I...it's not forever. Bad fucking few months, forgive me. You came here and I know it's not just about me."

"I visit a lot now that we're like next door, even if distance isn't a factor."

"Yes but I know you. I can tell. You visit us when Jax is around to do lame guy things with mancaves involved. You visit when it's just me cause I'm the best ear in the League."

"True."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to dump on you now. I didn't know about Uncle Jimmy."

"Mom, Jax, and I didn't want anyone to know. It's really hard, but it doesn't mean I don't want to hear what you have to say."

"Lur---"

"What's the what, cuz? I know something bugging you. Spill."

He sighed and rubbed his chin. "Cassie."

"Kon, I thought you two were moving past all of that. I thought you agreed just to be professional."

"No, I messed up and we work together when we have to for the good of the League and I miss her like crazy."

She frowned. "For fourteen years? You never said anything."

"Sometimes I bitch to Mo and she tells me to apologize not grasping that I have a million times and Cassie just wants to be professional."

"You guys are a phenomenal team though. I'd say in the decade or so, there are missions we couldn't have pulled without the way you Watson to her Holmes."

"I know!"

"So how could things change badly enough for us to be sharing tea?"

He looked away from her and felt his cheeks flush. "We slept together."

"I know. You all dated for over thirty years."

"No, I mean on New Year's Day. I...after the party at Watchtower and too much of that wine Fortune brought, I went to her apartment in D.C. and one thing led to another and we, you know."

Her eyes were owlish behind her glasses. "Oh Kon."

"I know, so we did and it's more complicated cause it was stupid but----"

"I know about you and Wondergirl. Rao, Jax and I were there. It's not like we didn't hear it."

He gulped. "Did anyone else?"

"Superhearing. How could you do that?"

"I..." he blushed again and looked away. Why Sandsmark had agreed to it when he'd come up with the idiot idea at the League New Year's party was nowhere close to Alura's business. Even if Alura was part of the reason Cassandra Sandsmark had been willing, it wasn't his secret to tell.

"Kon!"

"It's not...I tried explaining it to Cass in D.C. It's not what you think?"

"It's not?"

"There are reasons."

Alura sighed and put her hand over his. "But you can't tell me?"

"I wanted to explain it to Cass but she basically told me to fuck off. She's taking leave from the League outside of dire emergencies even."

"That doesn't sound like her."

"She's the maddest I've ever seen. Shit, Lur, she said I was just like Lana Luthor."

She squeezed his hand. "Your bio-mom's been gone a while now and Cass was pissed. She knew where to hit you. You're not like Lana at all."

He sighed and pulled his hand back. "Maybe I am. I really hurt her. After everything that happened between us, I promised I'd never do it again, even if I had to spend a century or five making it up to her, I still did this."

"But you still want to make amends. Your bio-mom didn't even know how to feel sorry for someone."

"Doesn't mean I'm not a selfish moron. I love her so much and I fucking made it worse and all that happened was I missed her."

"Maybe you need time off from the League too."

"Huh?"

"Well Anna can't be your favorite person right now. Wondergirl isn't going to be able to work with you. You're distracted anyway with worrying about Cass. Maybe you need some space too."

"Maybe, I just..." He stopped, taking in a deep breath. He felt it then, a bubbling nausea roiling through his stomach. If it hadn't been for the space rock candy as a kid---the kind in Smallville that included green rocks in the recipe---he wouldn't know the feeling at all.

"Kon?" his cousin asked, brushing back his bangs from where he'd bent over on himself.

"Mmmph."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said, standing up and grabbing his jacket. 

"Kon? You look sick, kind of green."

"I---" was all he could offer before blurring back to his loft and retching.  
Back to index  
Chapter 3 by Tobywolf13  
January 25, 2028 

Kon visited home that Thursday. It was a day for his mother to patrol the city with the Angel of Vengeance, and he wasn't at all surprised to find his father and sister sacked out on the sofa in front of him when he returned home. Mo was curled up on their father's chest, one small hand tangled in his hair. Dad held her tightly as he lay suspended a foot above the sofa. In case that bit of gravity defying wasn't enough to let anyone walking in on the scene that this wasn't a typical suburban family, then the rose colored glow spreading across Mo's face and arms defintely was.

She'd started doing that about the time she got her strength six months ago. When she was truly content and relaxed, Mo glowed, the way Kon had seen his dad do a few times while pregnant with her. Technically, he'd pieced together that mom did that too under certain circumstances, but the less thought about what his parents did alone, the better.

When Mo was at her most relaxed, she was like a mood ring.

It was very adorable.

"Guys, hey," Kon called quietly, not wanting anyone to crash.

Mo opened her eyes first and slipped off their father's stomach. She ran to him, albeit still slowly. She wouldn't get her speed for another few years. Kon wobbled and prat fell back onto his rear for effect. "Kon!"

"You got me, squirt!"

She giggled and her skin flushed even brighter. "You weren't supposed to visit until this weekend."

He nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Well I got hungry and I know mom works late on Thursdays. I figured you two could use something. I, uh, already slipped in and put the pizzas on the kitchen table."

Her skin started to give the Northern Lights competition. "Anchovie?"

"Naturally," he replied.

She giggled and it was enough to finally wake his father up and to send him thudding onto the sofa. "Daddy! Kon brought food!"

His father smiled and stroked a hand through his hair. "I can smell it. Kon, do you want me to go out to the loft. I know Julio's doesn't put nails on them."

"Sure," he replied, picking up his sister on his hip and walking with his dad to the kitchen. "So you're tuckered out. Was it something big at the DP I missed?"

 

DP in their family was a very clever code to work around League or superhero business.

His dad laughed and before even Kon could follow, was at the table sprinkling nails on his slice. It wasn't that Kon had bad perception, he didn't. He still wasn't finished growing into all his abilities quite yet and his dad was still so much more powerful. "No, I just was busy with Mo. She'll wear you out in a few hours."

She squirmed in his grasp and Kon set her down to start getting ready for dinner. "I do not! And you should have more energy for hide and seek."

"Hide and seek wore you out? She's not even fast yet!"

His dad shrugged and bit into his nails and sardines pizza. "She feels like she is."

Mo nodded as she climbed the step stool to the sink. Cleanliness first. "I am very creative. Besides it's good for daddy. He's always working. Desks aren't enough play time."

Kon grinned. He had a feeling his dad got a pretty good work out three to four times per week from whatever villain he came up against. Drill sergeant Mo was not needed. "Good on you, squirt."

She nodded and then paused when she turned on the fawcet. The water running for too long drew Kon's attention away from his slice. "Mo?"

She sniffled and he noticed the color drain from her. "Nothing, I'm just slow. Can you get the ketchup please?"

He did and smiled a little at the way her eyes widened at his speed. It wasn't yet a circumstance to his father and his aunt's but it amused Mo, which was good enough for him. "Her you go."

She nodded and proceeded to pour a river onto her slice. "Should we save some for mommy?"

He laughed and looked over the collection of pieces. Not many were without either a ketchup and sardine or a sardine and nails combo. "Nah, I think she'll want a sandwich.  
***

His father went to sleep first. It made sense. His dad had an early morning at the Planet and Kon didn't have class on Fridays at all. Mo had a bed time, but dad was a pushover and let her did late night movies with her big brother when mom wasn't around. Right now they were watching Lilo and Stitch and Kon adored the irony of it being in his house. His dad, however, wasn't too keen on the 6-2-6 jokes. Mom hated when curfews weren't enforced but, to be fair, giving Mo a bed time was almost redundant. She had the supermetabolism to beat all supermetabolisms thanks to mom and dad. She barely needed five hours a night.

And the motor mouthed daughter of Chloe Sullivan sure took advantage of the other nineteen hours.

"Watch this part! You see he thinks he's gonna escape and destroy cities but he's on Hawaii and---"

Kon nodded and stroked her hair. He'd seen the movie at least 76 time with her since she'd discovered it as toddler. Even if he didn't have an eidectic memory, he could recite the lines by now. Still, she wanted to make sure he didn't miss the best parts.

"---and he can't cause there's no big cities and all surrounded by water."

"Exactly!" she exclaimed, leaning back against him. 

"Mo?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Was something wrong at dinner?"

"No."

"You seemed a little distracted at the sink."

She sighed and bright blue eyes looked up at him. "I was glowing again."

"Yeah, it's cute."

"I didn't mean to. Sometimes I can't help it. It's why I have to go to preschool in Granville."

"I know," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "But you like the Kawatchee." 

It was really the best place for her. The TK didn't act up as much for Mo, although she was already practicing regular meditation with Alura and Maddie. No, the glowing seemed to be her hardest thing to adjust to. She really was like a mood ring and she didn't mean to be that way. It came with her emotions and, at three, she didn't have a hope of controlling it yet. It meant she could hide out best among the tribe at their own reservation preschool. Two of Chief Joseph's great grandchildren attended and had their own issues with unintentional wolfing out. There was a girl in the four-year-old play group with honest to god wings.

Mo occasionally glowing didn't register there and, even when it was noticed, it was more like accepted by the kids and revered in secret by the elders.

Any place their Kawatchee family had set up for them were safe. Despite the widespread meteor mutation in Smallville, schools there were not. There was still too much overlap with Belle Reve. Kids who'd, especially in high school, manifest with a power out of nowhere on Monday only to be committed by Wednesday or Thursday.

"I do. They're nice but it's not normal school."

Kon sighed. "It's traditional for the young reservation kids to go there before heading to Granville Elementary."

"It's cause a lot of them are weird. Like the puppies."

"It's because the tribe is very special. Remember the Numan stories?"

"A little. I like the Krypton ones better. I know. The Kawatchee are really special cause they have a special great grandpa, but some of it is like us."

"Us?"

"Mommy and me and you and daddy. The rocks do funny things to people. They make me do a million things!"

He nodded and fell into the lie of necessity. "Yes, a lot of the kids from Granville have meteor rock powers. It's safe there, Mo. They look out for you."

"I want to go to normal school. You do."

He chuckled, based on the piercings and mohawks on some of the student body at Pratt, most wouldn't say it was normal . "I go to college. Mo, you'll get to go to school in Smallville soon. It's just you have to, you know---"

"Not glow like a freak."

"I'm telling dad. That's a dollar for the swear jar. Where did you even hear that word?"

She frowned and looked away. "Mommy and I had to pick up Alura from science club once. Some of the kids hanging out after school were being mean."

"To Alura?"

"No, everyone likes Alura. There was another boy and he, I dunno, he sort of went invisible?"

"Sort of?"

"You could see through him but you couldn't, maybe like a ghost?"

Ah, someone who could phase shift but probably had fuck all control over it at twelve. "I see."

"They said lots of bad things like that and 'Smallville Special' and they were gonna throw rocks and things but mom broke it up."

"I bet she did."

"Uh-huh. She did and she gave him her cell so he could call if he ever felt sad I think."

"I see." 

Most likely not recruiting, but a good way to keep future supercriminals of tomorrow from rising up was to reach out to displaced metas today. The League had started side mentoring ventures run between Uncle J'onn, his mom, and The Black Canary in order to help struggling metas before they broke bad or before society drove them to it.

"You say that a lot!"

"I see."

"Kon!"

He smirked and tickled her a little, enjoying the sound of her laughter. "Don't say words like that, squirt. They're not true. You're normal just, you know, for us."

"I want to be normal-normal," she replied, frowning when she realized she'd start glowing again. "Normal people don't glow!"

"Mom does."

"Mom's different like me."

"Trust me, kiddo, I've tried it. Normal's overrated."

"But it's what I want."

He sighed and turned up the volume on Lilo and Stitch just a little. "You can't have it, squirt. I'm sorry."  
***

May 15, 2038 

"Hey! I have breakfast. Belgian waffles with extra strawberries like you like them," he said, entering the guest room of the LuthorCorp penthouse and setting down the food on the desk.

Kon didn't use the penthouse even though it was technically his. He had a modest apartment in the East Village that suited him fine and usually served for visits with Mo. However, last night had been rough and this morning he needed more space for when his Uncle Oliver and Aunt Dinah arrived.

So he and Mo had moved to Metropolis late last night and he'd let her sleep in until noon. His uncle and aunt still wouldn't be back from their League assignment until three and of all fucking terrible luck his mom and dad were off world helping the Green Lantern Corp and he had no idea when they'd be back at all.

Mo'd gotten her X-ray vision last night and he'd had to explain to her about who they really were. He'd distracted her most of the night once they'd move to Metropolis with the less-than-awe-inspiring story of how he'd found out about their heritage and spent far too much time cuddling up to his bio-mom the psychopath. It at least got her relaxed enough for some sleep but he couldn't let her rest forever. Hiding under the covers wouldn't help her adjust to her new ability or the truth of their life.

The lump under the covers barely moved. "I'm not awake."

"You're sleep talking?"

"Kon, go away, I don't want to talk about it."

"Aunt Dinah and Uncle Ollie are coming over. They don't want you alone. They're gonna stay with us until mom and dad get back in a week."

"Back from outer space," she snapped and her glass of orange juice cracked and then exploded.

He blurred to get a towel to clean up the mess. Alas, the waffles had had it. "Mo, push the covers down. This is immature."

"I'm allowed! My whole life fell apart!" The cover lump mumbled.

He sighed. Some cosmic being had set this up. This was all some ironic revenge on him for being an asshole. Of course she'd get her X-ray vision when his parents were fucking in another galaxy .

Fate sucked.

Quietly, he slipped over to the bed and eased the covers down over her chin. He wished he hadn't. Her eyes were bloodshot in a way that had nothing to do with her X-Ray vision coming online.

"Did you sleep? I thought you were."

She sighed and curled on her side as he slid next to her. "I tried. I think I did a little but they involved chest bursting."

"Fucking Sigourney Weaver," he quipped. "Squirt, it's okay."

She looked back up at him. "It wasn't okay when mom and dad told you. You admitted you had like a six month temper tantrum."

He blushed. "Not my finest moment."

"You didn't take it well at all!"

"I don't expect you to go all Pollyanna on me. That'd be insane. It took dad like eight years to get adjusted and a lot of that was Aunt Kara showing up."

"And you?"

"Maybe a little, but I want you to know it'll be okay. We're here. Mom and Dad and me, Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy and Alura, Jax, everybody. We're here. You have a lot of support and you're not the only one."

"Just one of six," she hiccupped. "I can't do this."

"Well you don't get a refund. I...this is what you got."

She turned back to look at him and suddenly she was three again. "I want to trade. I want to be normal. I don't want to see through things or fly or blow things up when I get upset."

"I can get you more orange juice."

"It's not that. I just...why me?"

"I thought that a lot. Like this is some kind of massive cosmic joke. Honestly, I dunno. Our pick in the lottery." He squeezed her tighter. "It's scary. Believe me, I know it's scary and lonely and hurts. It's going to hurt for a long time."

"Does it stop?"

"Huh?"

"Does it go away? Do you ever stop feeling not quite real?"

His sister was too young for this, but really no younger than he'd been when his hearing started going wonky. He couldn't lie to her if he wanted to. She'd hear it, hear the false note of it all. 

"No. No you don't. Dad has days like this, I know he does. I do, sometimes. It's a lot easier than it was when I first found out, but sometimes, I dunno, you just look up at the sky and see the stars and feel like you're not supposed to be here."

"Maybe we're not."

"We're here now. I said some days are like that and some days aren't. Some days, I can't imagine not growing up here. I have you guys and I have Cass and I have the Titans and, yeah, it's pretty fucking weird but it's also not a bad weird. I mean it's not gonna be a white picket fence thing, but a lot of perfectly normal humans don't live the cliche, Mo."

"I just don't want eight million powers. I don't want to be an alien! ," she hissed.

"Once upon a time---"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Bear with," he said, starting again. "You heard my story. Lex played with what happens when you try and strip one of us and Jax was never the same after. If it weren't for you, he'd be dead."

"I know."

"Mom's special anyway. We're just not gonna be normal, okay?"

"Do over, Kon. I want a do over."

"You'll be okay, you know."

"My head feels like I don't even know! I've never had pain like this, not even with Buttons!"

"It'll get better when you work it out. I'm just sorry mom's not here to take the edge off like when I got my hearing. But that's not what I mean. Dad has mom and Aunt Kara has Uncle Jimmy---"

"And you have Cassie."

"Right. I...just because you're unique---"

"Freakshow."

"Swear jar, Mo-Ru-Cek ," he replied. "You don't have to be alone. Like I said you have your family and your aunts and uncles and so many people who love you and until you feel better, we'll still be here."

"And there's a Mr. Right out there too?"

"Or a Ms. Right, whatever, no pressure, squirt. I just...you're not gonna be alone ever. I promise."

She nodded and curled closer to him. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Kon."  
***

San Francisco, California --- February 16, 2078. 

It couldn't be possible.

Not possible.

Not happening.

He was not staring at four separate pregnancy tests and they were not all lime green. They were not. 

He was having some kind of hallucination. He had to have caught something last time he was off world and now he was nauseated and apparently losing his mind. That was all. There was no way he was pregnant. He was half human for christ sakes. Human men didn't get pregnant, and, besides, how may infertile women were out there anyway?

His bio-mom made some sense. She'd been thrown all over Smallville and had a host of severe emergencies like a horse trampling and abuse from about every meteor mutant under the sun. His real mom, well that made some sense too. After all, she'd been affected by the meteors and pretty severely. Her immune system rejected any foreign tissue. But two was enough. Two was pushing it even in a town as screwed up as Smallville. 

So a third time, even if he happened to know and date only metas, wasn't that pushing it?

Exactly!

That was why he wasn't actually looking at a bunch of positive pregnancy tests and thanks, dad, for being a discerning enough story teller to give out that detail too. He just couldn't be. Fuck, he didn't even know which Cassie it was? God, he and Cass weren't likely to ever talk again and Cassie Sandsmark was a good enough friend but they weren't like that and never had been. Hell, he didn't know anything about raising an honest-to-goodness part god. 

Oh jesus.

Should he hope it was Cass's and that she could spend years hating him even more over this?

Or should he hope that the baby was Sandsmark's and of all ridiculous sounding things---you know, more than the fact he was possibly a pregnant space alien---Zeus's grandchild?

He'd almost rather tempt the King of the God's wrath for daughter defiling than have to go back and deal with his Cass. The way she'd spoken to him...she hated him.

He couldn't tell Alura because she'd tell Jax and it'd spread from him to the rest of Western Civilization. No way he could tell his mom and dad. His parents would kill him for getting into such a stupid fucking mess from a one night stand. Since dad and mom could never know, then his aunt was out as well. Of course, now that his Uncle Jimmy were sick, it wasn't fair to burden Aunt Kara with his mistakes.

Unsurprisingly, it left him with one person to turn to, the one he tended to lean on the most anyway. 

"Mo, please. I'm at home. I know you can hear this." He leaned forward and let his forehead rest on the cool of the porcelain back of the toilet. It wasn't long before he felt the familiar breeze ruffling his hair and a soft palm on his back.

"Kon?" She asked, and she'd come straight from The Washington Post offices. He could tell from the power suit and high heels she still wore.

His sister liked to make up for being a midget anyway she could.

"Mo, I screwed up."

She kept stroking and waited before saying anything, just letting him relax in her presence. "Why are there pregnancy tests?"

"I think I might be dying."

She sighed. "No, you're not dying."

"Maybe I'm going nuts. I know we used to play pranks on Jax but this just can't be happening."

"You 'passed' four tests."

"I know."

"And clearly you've been sick. How long?"

"About eight days of vomitting. I've never Ralphed so much in my life. Hell, each time totally beats when I ate the meteor rock candy as a kid."

She kicked off her shoes and knelt beside him, one hand reaching out to stroke his bangs. "You are, aren't you?"

"I dunno."

" Kon-El ..."

"I didn't check."

"Kon!"

He blushed and swallowed. "I was scared. If I listen, then it's real."

"I think it is real."

"I could be going nuts! You don't know!"

Mo sighed. "If you're going crazy, big brother, then so am I. I can see it and I can hear the heartbeat."

"I...I don't want to right now."

"It's happening. I don't understand," she started, blue eyes boring into his.

"You see what happens is when a guy and girl get together---"

She smacked the back of his head lightly for effect. "No I know that, but you're not dating anyone."

"You don't have to be in a relationship to get pregnant."

"Did you hook up with some random girl at a bar? Jesus, do you even know the mother's name?"

He sighed and focused on the water in front of him, deterred a little by the force of her anger. "Cassandra."

"You and Cass...you've been on the outs for like ever!"

Suddenly she sounded less fifty and more fifteen again. 

He looked back at her. "I said that it was a Cassandra."

"Wondergirl? When did you even fuck Wondergirl?"

"I didn't say her either!"

"How many 'Cassandras' do you know?" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"Both of them, just them. I just, I don't know which one is the mom yet!"

"Was there a threesome? I'm trying here, Kon, but you've not been dating anyone in a long time, like a decade. Now you're telling me your pregnant and you're not sure which Cassie---Ice Queen or Wondergirl---is the mother. How is that possible?"

She was so disappointed. He was her big brother and, as weird as it was, in this family he was supposed to set an example about being responsible. He'd failed so hard.

"I...it was New Year's and Anna made that wine and it was able to actually affect Cassie Sandsmark and me and it has been forever and I was just so lonely, Mo. Then I realized what I'd done and felt like shit and went to tell Cass why I'd done it. I mean, I know Cass and I haven't dated in like a decade and a half, but I never even meant to sleep with Wondergirl! I was drunk and lonely and then I woke up thinking about the girl I really wanted."

"So you tried to sub one Cassie for the other."

"Basically."

"Why?"

He closed his eyes and let his hearing wander, finally allowing himself to perceive the sound he'd been blocking out since he'd gotten sick at his cousin's home. It was fast, so incredibly fast it made him worry for a second the baby might be sick. It whirred in his ears and he let himself get used to the new life growing within him. 

"I was stupid and weak and I missed her so much, Mo. I just wanted to be less alone for one night and then I realized in the morning I can't replace Cass Carpenter and I can't get over her either. I went to talk things out with Cass and confess the whole thing and one thing lead to another and the next thing I know, it was like old times."

"Okay, then we just need to think. We can go to the Watchtower and bring in both girls for a DNA or, um, close enough test," she hedeged.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I...maybe I shouldn't even have the---"

"Finish that sentence," she said, her eyes going red. "What shouldn't you do?"

"I...Sandsmark and I are just colleagues. I like her fine but it's not like we can be parents together and Cass hates my guts."

"No she doesn't!"

"She found out about Wondergirl. She basically threw me off the East Coast. Mo, I...should I dump this on either of them?"

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way," she replied, sitting on the floor and putting her hand on his stomach. "You have to think about this the way it would be if you were actually a girl."

"But I'm not a girl."

"I know but you have to think about it. You're not 'dumping' anything on either Cassie, whoever the mom is. You're carrying the baby. You're the main parent. It's your fiscal and emotional responsibility foremost, especially if the baby's mom---when we figure her out---refuses to step up. It's not about what might be awkward for Wondergirl or what might make Cass even madder. This is about what you want first. You're the---"

"The mom?"

"No, but you're the one making a lot of the immediate sacrifices. What do you want?"

"I don't know yet. I just don't know."  
Back to index  
Chapter 4 by Tobywolf13  
January 25, 2028 

"You two are incorrigible," his mom said, coming trough the kitchen and frowning at where his little sister was passed out on his lap. Lilo and Stitch had gone off over an hour ago and he'd turned it instead to a muted level for Chelsea Handler . "You know she has to be in bed by eight and it's past midnight!"

"She passed out on my lap over an hour ago."

"Eleven p.m. is not the same as eight, Connor Sullivan."

He lowered his voice, "I know but she doesn't really need to sleep that much."

"That's not good for her to keep her on an adult bed time either."

"We were watching a movie."

His mother shook her head. "You are your father are pushovers. You let Mo do whatever she asks."

"It's the big blue eyes, I can't resist them!" he said, stroking his sister's hair. Mo was out very deeply and managed a quiet exhale before curling onto her side and deeper into the couch cushions.

"Beware girls with anime eyes, Kon."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not that bad anymore. I'm in recovery!"

"Recovery," she finished, sitting on the old rocker. "It also means that giving her boundaries are good."

"There were boundaries."

"And then pizza and a movie."

He sighed. "I'm the fun big brother. I don't have to discipline."

"Next time, if you stop by on a Thursday, I expect her in bed by nine-thirty at the latest. I don't care if Walt Disney himself has risen from the grave and is on television live, okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

She smiled. "That's better. So what brings you home tonight?"

"Nothing, I just was so busy last week that I missed you all. I figured since I didn't have class on Friday anyway."

"Connor?" She did that, said his full name, the one she'd given him. Lana had done it to make him sound more human. His mom did it mostly when he was either in trouble or when she was concerned.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're alright? It's not like you to cancel on family time and Hal mentioned you'd been hit pretty hard. He was shocked you'd not gotten your check up yet at Watchtower."

"I'm fine, mom. Yellow sun plus me equals completely healthy."

She stared at him and he almost felt like she had the X-ray vision, as if she could see what might be ailing him. "Go to Watchtower next time. It's not good to break protocol and you never know what can go wrong when you're not up to 100% or off world."

"I know."

"Just because you're not mortal exactly, doesn't mean you can't get sick. You know your dad contracts things when he comes back from the Phantom Zone---"

"I know. Mom, I'm really okay. I...if you don't believe me, you could do that zen thing you do where you touch someone and know what the diagnosis is. I swear I'm tip-top."

"Were you last week? Cass skipped two nights on duty and that's never like her. Would you hide something from us?"

"I'm fine. I am and it's not your job."

"I'm your mother."

"And if I had been hurt, hypothetically---"

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, hypothetically ."

"You'd want to heal even though Band-Aid service is not what Fawkes is for and spend a month unconscious cause I'm not supposed to be healed. That's not fair to do."

"Were you hypothetically in pain?"

"Fine now," he said. "Mom, last time you healed anything bad you were dead seven weeks. I won't do that again. It'd scare dad and Mo and I'm fine."

"Don't do it again. Watchtower physicals post mission like everyone else or I'll sic your Uncle Bruce on you."

"Ugh."

"Exactly, I have my methods but, a stor , I mean it. Come to me. Their my powers and if I can use them to make you feel better, then I'd do it a hundred times over."

"I know and that's not fair."

"Why not?"

"Cause you die."

She shrugged. "I've lost count. It's really a non-event now. How badly were you hurt, a stor ?"

"Are you gonna tell dad too?"

"Yes."

"Mom! I said 'hypothetical.'"

"And you're a better liar than you dad but not gifted like Lana. Connor Sullivan, why weren't you here?"

He sighed and looked down at his lap. "I was bleeding a little."

"Connor!"

"It wasn't awful...I, just cramps and bleeding. I think something tore a little, but it's fine now. Ask Cass. She stayed with me until I got well. I'm okay now. I'm serious. You could do that Florence Nightengale thing."

His mom shook her head, but still reached out and took his hand in hers. He watched the familiar glow extend from her palm to encircle his. "At least you're telling the truth now. I---"

"What?"

She frowned and her hand flared again. "I...whatever you had left traces. It's something I can't...there's something about it I can't place."

"Giant alien monster slammed into me repeatedly?"

His mother shook her head. "No, I, it's something different but I can't...it's too faded to tell. I need you to go to the Fortress for a full scan with your father. No buts about anything. I just want to be sure you're fine and only your 'grandmother' can guarantee that."

He nodded and looked back at her. "What did you feel?"

"Something oddly familiar but I don't get it exactly. I've not had that many full on tackles from intergalactic rhinoceri."

"Alright and I'll come to the Tower next time but on one condition."

"You're a little young to make those."

"This is a good one. I just want that if there's a next time, you won't rush to heal me, that we can work on the best solution for both of us."

"You healthy is the best solution."

He shook his head and stroked Mo's thick curls. "For whom?"  
***

February 16, 2078 

He was lying down on his sofa. It didn't keep the room from spinning. He was screwed. Literally, even. He was fucking pregnant and he had fuck all business being a father. He didn't want to confront either Cassie with the information and, even if he did, what if they told him it was his problem and left him to single parent for the next eighteen odd years til the kid was in college.

Oh god, so fucked.

"Kon?"

"I can't do this, Mo."

"Do you really want to get rid of the baby?"

He sighed and placed one forearm over his eyes. "I never thought about being a dad."

"You didn't?" She said, her voice sharp. "Not ever?"

"I...maybe twenty years ago. There could have been thoughts about what it'd be like to be a family when Cass and I were doing so well. I proposed to her for Christ's sakes, I'd have had a family if she wanted."

"Well if the baby is Cass Carpenter's then we're all good!"

"Huh?"

"I mean, it's perfect! You two have been doing that stupid ten year avoiding thing that only fucking immortals would do anyway. This could be like nature shoving you in the obviously right direction."

"I don't understand."

"Okay," Mo breezed. "So you could be carrying Wondergirl's baby and that'd complicate things and her dad's a little intimidating and all."

"A little?"

"Pfft, whatever. I just can't stop thinking this is meant to be. It's so gonna turn out to be Ice Queen's and then you'll get back together and get married and---"

He sat up too fast and his stomach flip flopping made him wish he hadn't. "You're fifty."

"I was aware."

"You're fifty, not twelve, Mo-Ru-Cek . You know it doesn't work that way. You don't just plunk down a kid and everyone lives happily ever after. You know much Lana hated my dad."

"I know but Cass isn't a psychotic bitch." Mo paused and thought better of it. "I mean, you're not a psychopath or anything."

"Gee thanks."

"It's just, I'm sorry, the world's a better place with Lana Luthor not in it."

He sighed and rubbed his stomach. "I agree, but my point is still the same. Take superpowers out of it and take bad history out of it. Adding a whole other person is just ten times more stress and needs to meet."

"You're the richest man in the country besides Uncle Bruce. You can have a fleet of nannies!"

"No, and you're right, I do have the money and I know you'd babysit like every day without asking. I just mean that there's emotional costs, especially for a special needs baby and you know we are."

"So?"

"It's more stress, not less, and Cass hates my guts."

"She's mad. She can get over it. If the little one's hers, she'll have to."

"Or we could learn to timeshare. If it's Cassie Sandsmark's, I mean, we're friends but we're not like anywhere close to actually attracted to each other."

"Well then I'm sure you could figure out some arrangement, you know?"

He nodded. "Both Cassies wouldn't be in the League if they weren't responsible and good people. If I have the baby, no matter which is the mom, I know she'd help out. Even if it's weird time sharing weekend mom thing, I know both of them just wouldn't have a kid and abandon it. They're not like that."

"So what's the problem? Worst case scenario, you have the baby, get some nannies with meta experience and discretion, learn to time share platonically with Wondergirl. Best case, you and Cass are the parents of a little ice baby in training and you get to finally get married and live happily ever after."

"Did you like huff fumes from Disney World? Cass and I are broken!"

"What did you do, Kon?"

He sighed and looked out his window to the cityscape surrounding them. "I made a horrible mistake and she was right to leave me, Mo, and I never expect to get her back. So even if the baby is hers it's just not gonna happen."

"Why won't you tell me what you did? Even now. Even Alura doesn't know and she knows everything!"

"I can't talk about it. I just fucked up and I lost her, okay? If the baby's hers then maybe we can find a good agreement so she can have a mom and a dad. A lot of people have healthy divorces for their kid's sake. I just can't hope for more cause I don't deserve it."

"Cass is awesome."

"I know that, believe me."

"I don't understand why you can't fix it or how it got so broken."

Kon swallowed and looked back at his little sister, she still looked barely college aged, and she wanted so badly to believe he and Cass were like mom and dada and all true love forever. She wanted to believe they got that. "I ask myself that all the time."

"I---"

"No, Mo. If I haven't told you, I'm not going to."

"I was gonna ask, now that we've gone round and round, is are you going to keep it?"

"If I said 'no' would you beat me with a shovel?"

Her eyes flashed red. "Are you going to kill it?"

He sighed. "Maybe this is my shot for a kid. My dating life's so fucked and I don't see myself ever finding someone."

"If it's not Cass Carpenter."

"Yes," he admitted, blushing. "I can take of it. I don't have anything pressing going on in my life. I mean I could take a year or two off to carry it and ugh nurse."

"Green!"

"Yes, green, double ugh," he replied, looking at his chest. Dear fuck what had he done again?

"So you are?"

"What if it hates me?"

"It's six weeks old and just got a heartbeat. It can't think yet, Kon."

"No, I mean. As many things as I was mad about when I found out about myself...I was an accident, Mo. Dad didn't know he could get pregnant and Lana wasn't taking my birth control. They didn't set out to have me and they couldn't get rid of me because full Kryptonians can't just get rid of anything." He swallowed back a swell of nausea at that. Neither his father nor his aunt had ever said that his dad had thought about abortion with him, but Kon had always suspected it. Lana'd dropped hints about it when he'd lived at the mansion. 

If it hadn't been a guaranteed death sentence to his father, Kon wasn't sure he'd even be here.

His sister reached out and squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you're here and so are mom and dad."

"I know, believe me, I know, but this whole thing is an accident."

"Doesn't mean it's not supposed to happen. Kon, would you rather be unplanned or non-existent?"

"Uplanned of course."

"Then don't borrow trouble. Besides, if it is Ice Queen's, I'll have you two back together and married before you full term."

He sighed, "Life's not like that, not for us."

"But you'll keep it?"

He nodded. "I want to try this. I don't know how I'll deal with the Cassies or what happens when I'm weekday Dad to Ice Queen or Wondergirl's fun weekend and holiday mom but I want to try, okay?"

Mo squealed and hugged him. "Good, now you just have to clear your schedule."  
***

February 18, 2078 

The little yellow farmhouse hadn't changed since his childhood. He knew it was twice the size it had been thanks to remodeling initiated by his late Uncle Oliver and Uncle Bruce, but to him it'd always been the same. So much of it was decorated with antiques salvaged from the second meteor shower's ruins and it all was full of the Kent family---his great grandpa Hiram, his dad's dad, and Grandma Martha---it was home.

Somehow, ironically, as things changed, they tended to stay the same. When he couldn't keep the pregnancy a secret any longer, he knew he'd come home to Smallville. It was still the best place in the country for a meta to lay low and it was the place where his family could take care of him, where he'd been born.

Kon rubbed his stomach. 

It'd be where his child would be born.

"Kon?"

He smiled when his mom opened the kitchen door. Dad was on League assignment one dimension over and wouldn't be back for another few weeks. One of the four of them---Jax included---made a point to stop by while mom was waiting for his return. Not that she was just waiting, of course, she had work to do as the Ledger's EIC (laying a bit lower profile this time around in life. It made it easier for his mom to start round four at a massive paper later), but the waiting without knowing would eat at anyone.

Note that mom would show it.

She was strong like that.

"Hey!"

"It's Alura's day to Chloe-sit."

"We're not sitting exactly," he hedged, taking his seat. "Besides, Aunt Kara's gone too for a bit. It sort of helps both of you wait together."

"I know, but I'm not wilting here. Your dad and I can't always get the same assignment and, as useful as I am, I'm not Diana or J'onn or like you. I'm not a big gun physically and I accept that."

"You do pretty well."

"Being immortal and fast healing helps," she quipped. "He always comes home. It's what your father does."

He nodded and smiled back at her. He wondered if his mom knew how lucky she and his father were to have each other. What they had, what Jax and Alura had...for metas like them it was like winning the lottery. "Good then. It'll be faster if you hang with me while he's away."

"Of course," she replied, pouring herself a Sprite and sitting down across from him. "Cass Carpenter is on leave from the security council."

"Oh?"

"She asked The Batman for it over a week ago."

"Imagine that and Uncle Terry agreed?"

"Even Bruce advised it when Terry consulted him." And of course even if his uncle were ninety-six and in a wheelchair, he was still leading League strategy. Terry had been trained well.

"I guess her job is getting more intense. She's got a case before the Supreme Court. She's allowed to have a nine-to-five too."

"Bruce and I don't think it has a damn thing to do with her job."

Kon blushed. "Oh?"

"Why are you here, a stor ?"

"To see you!"

"You're supposed to see me tomorrow. Why did you jump a day?"

"I, uh, actually wanted to talk to you instead of Uncle J'onn or Terry about taking leave. I wanted some time off."

Fawkes was looking back at him then, not his mom, but one of the founding members of the Justice League. "We won't maintain well with both you and Cass on emergencies only duty."

"I need everything off. I can't...mom, I can't patrol." His mom said nothing at first but then surprised him by taking his hand in hers. "Mom?" The glow spread through her hand so fast that he barely even registered it. God, so stupid. She'd set him up. As fast as he could, he wrenched his hand back. "Mom, stop."

Her eyes were wide when she broke contact with him. "What did you do?"

"I---"

"You didn't want to tell this to J'onn cause he'd read it on you, but you forgot I can tell changes too."

"Apparently! What's with the Jedi Florence Nightengale mojo?"

"I know my son and I can do math. Cass Carpenter suddenly wants off League duty and now you can't even be on the emergency rolodex until 2030? What was I supposed to think?"

"That I wanted a vacation?"

"None of us take apocalypse vacations," she snapped. "Oh Connor Sullivan, what have you done?"

He blushed and looked down at the table, his nails picking splinters out of the old oak. "What did you feel?"

"Nausea, a lot of it, but you're not one signature."

"Huh?"

"Not to go all Obi Wan here," she replied. "But I have to sort of access a life force to heal it. I know the difference between two and one. I've healed your father when he was carrying both you and Mo."

"I---"

"You're pregnant."

"I just wanted leave. I didn't really want to tell you."

"Obviously. I always thought this might happen."

His eyes were wide. "I didn't! I'm half human! Shouldn't that offset the most embarrassing power ever?"

"Cass Carpenter's infertile."

"Uh, mom---"

"I...you didn't have a rupture, Kon, when you were back in the Titans. I know what that feeling is now. It took so long to place it cause I'd had it a few times in that year we tried for Mo. You miscarried after sleeping with her."

"I was sick."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Cass always suggested it was possible, that we'd, uh, forgotten to be careful." Somehow that made his hand tighten around his stomach, the thought he'd lost a child before, not that he'd been far along at all back then.

"I think that's what happened," his mom replied, shaking her head. "I thought you and Cass had agreed to be professional. I didn't know you were still seeing each other."

"Mom---"

"If you two are back together, is she taking off to cover for you and to take care of you?"

"Mom, Cassie Carpenter and I aren't together."

"Kryptonians don't immaculating conceive."

He sighed. "I slept with her, we're just not together, but I'm...I can't do this. I should have just gone to The Batman."

"So you could hide this from me the way you hid the cramping and bleeding last time. Kon, you're going to need so much care and the baby's half meta and we'll have to have the Fortress keep up with you to make sure you don't get sick like your father or Aunt Kara. You can't seriously think that you were going to do this by yourself?"

"Mo was gonna help."

"Mo's not a doctor and she's not your whole family. Why would you even think of shutting me out?"

He stood up and started to pace, forcing himself to stay in human speed so as not to leave marks on the wood floor. "Because I didn't want you to be disappointed in me."

"Lying makes me disappointed. I thought we were past a lot of that."

"I...mom, I don't know who the mother is."

His mom cursed under her breath. "Excuse me?"

"I got drunk over New Year's and I slept with Wondegirl at the League party and then visited Cass in D.C. and, you know---"

"You don't know who the mother is?"

"I...theoretically it could be either one!"

"Oh Connor Sullivan, how on Earth could you do this? We taught you to be responsible. Your father didn't know he could get pregnant the first time and Lana never took birth control but lied about it."

"I know !"

"You know Aunt Kara planned very carefully for Alura and we did the same for Mo and it's not even a morality thing. It's practical. These pregnancies are so dangerous. How can you have just gotten careless on some magic wine or whatever and been so reckless?"

"I dunno!"

She shook her head and slammed her palm on the table. "That's not good enough. It's not good enough when you do something that could potentially make you sick or kill you---"

"The baby is 3/4 human, you know. I'm not exactly prone to reject alien tissue or something!"

"You don't know that for sure until 'Lara' tells you so at the Fortress."

"Okay I fucked up!" he stopped pacing but winced when the light fixture shook. He'd not had a fit like that in decades.

"You could have just made yourself dangerously sick not to mention how is this fair to either Cassie?"

"Well apparently neither Cassie believes in birth control!"

"You just," his mom sighed and concentrated on the fruit in the basket on the table. "I expected more from you. I expected you to be an adult by now, Connor Sullivan."

"I know. I get it. I messed up so much. I don't know who the mother is. I don't know if it's safe to do this, but I don't want to get rid of it either. I just...all I need is some leave so I don't lose the baby, okay?"

"Of course, you'll be moving home immediately."

"But mom! I have a show in four months."

"In four months you'd be showing, you'll have to cancel it."

"Mom!"

"No, Kon," she said, her tone firm. His mother stood then, even though she barely came up to his chin. "You have to take responsibility for your actions. The first thing is that you have to come home. You have to cancel any of your work because exposure is something we keep down--"

"Mom!"

"And, Connor Sullivan, you will be going to the Fortress today with me for a checkup and you will be calling both Cassies tonight. We are getting to the bottom of this right away."

"I---"

She glared at him. His mother had no ability to harm others, no offensive powers that he knew of, yet she managed to keep most of the League in line and the remains of the Kryptonian race. Chloe Sullivan Kent could be scary when she wanted to be. "No arguments. You were irresponsible and that's how you got into this mess. Now being a real adult is how you're going to get out."  
Back to index  
Chapter 5 by Tobywolf13  
January 26, 2028 

"Your mom doesn't like the Fortress," dad explained as he moved the rock wall out of the way in the Kawatchee caves.

Kon nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Because 'Jor-El' is a dick."

"The grandma half of the program, your mother has no problem with, that's true. If it weren't for the medical intervention of Lara, I don't know where Mo or I would be. It's the Jor-El part she hates so much, yes. I think she never got past the part where it tried to freeze her to deatb before she had abilities."

"Wow imagine what a thing to hold a grudge over," Kon snarked.

"It was a pretty scary place before the fourth stone," he father conceded, stepping to the altar and placing the key into its slot. It should probably bother Kon more than it did that he knew the location of and used an interdimensional portal with regularity. His weird-dar was so beyond broken.

"Jor-El is still an elitist dick."

His father nodded as the bright light of the portal encircled them. "I don't understand that. Raya and J'onn both swore he was a good man but the AI modeled after him is insufferable."

Of course, on cue, a booming voice echoed through both their skulls. I am no more insufferable than my descendants. 

Kon rolled his eyes. "Jor-El, long time, no see."

The AI did not address him. Jor-El rarely bothered. Kal-El, it is preferable for you to keep the half breeds out of the Fortress. They are worse than letting Zor-El's daughter in.

"Gee, love you too, grandpa."

The AI did not rise to the bait. Although, Mo-Ru-Cek is almost acceptable. More than enough power to be worthy of being a Kryptonian, despite the traces of human in her.

His father grimaced. "She's strong because of her mother, not in spite of it, and I'm glad you're as warm as ever, Jor-El. We're here to talk to Lara."

The AI almost "sounded" offended. Of course you are. She'll humor the half-breeds. 

"Lara!" his father called. "We need you."

The next voice swirling through his head, left Kon smiling. There was something infinitely soothing about the Lara Lor-Van construct, as if someone had distilled and then really increased the potency of Grandma Martha. I am here. Forgive Jor-El---

"Unlikely," his father answered.

Patience, Kal-El, our programming is better than it was but five hundred years lost was time enough for damage to set in. 

"Grandma," Kon replied quietly. "You don't have to make excuses. I know Jor-El is never going to like me or mom. We're not 'good' enough."

Warm laughter filtered through him and he felt warm. You are more than good enough, my darling. Now how may I help you? 

"So much better than this used to be," his father said.

I do enjoy being cooperative with my children, Lara admitted. Although I confess that you only visit when it is needed. Kon-El, you have put off your training. 

Kon sighed. His father had taken the year after his sister had been weaned off from work to finally receive his Kryptonian education. He'd spent the bulk of his days in the Fortress training and learning of their culture's history and science, only to rush home at night to care for Mo and be available to patrol the city. He'd run a schedule so intense that the newly public Superman had barely been able to keep up. His grandma had been prodding Kon since he'd graduated from Smallville high school to do the same, to defer a year for a different form of college.

Kon had no interest.

He had a thousand years or more, why did it matter if he waited until after he had his degree from Pratt?

"Grandmother, I have real school."

The AI was more muted when it replied. Was it possible it had feelings to hurt?

Training is as important. Kryptonian studies are real as well. 

"I'd rather get my diploma that actually has some use in the real world," he said. "I can get a job with that. I promised I'd get my training but later."

Your father put his off for twenty years .

"To be fair, the Fortress was psychotic when it first asked," dad added.

Kon-El, procrastination compounds. If you do this now, I fear you won't be back. 

"I have a millennium, possibly, or at least half that. I'll get it done."

Very well, then, his grandmother intoned. How may I be of service to my boys? 

"I...well I've been sick," Kon admitted, having the sense to look away from his father's glare. His dad was no more thrilled to hear Kon had suffered alone for the last week than mom had been. A few choice phrases had definitely come out of his mouth.

Quickly, a tube of clear crystal came up from the ground before him. You may start the scan at any time, my son .

Kon nodded and stepped in. It was a faster physical than anything Emil could give him. There was no light, no sound, no sensation. He just stood there and, like clockwork, sixty seconds later his diagnosis was ready.

I am surprised. 

"Lara?" his dad asked.

Kon slipped out of the tube and ran a hand through his bangs. "Grandma?"

There is nothing wrong. Why did you bring him here? 

"I was hurt on a mission with the Titans. I was on assignment and under a red sun and something hit me hard. I...there was bleeding."

His dad shook his head. "I still can't believe you waited a week to say anything. Rao-Dracu , Kon."

There is no malady. He is perfectly healthy. Kon-El, you have been fortunate. 

"I...thank you."

"So we can go? Bleeding's done, you're fine, next please?" his dad asked, his frustration growing.

Kal-El, my son, I would like a private word with Kon-El. 

"If he's sick, his mother and I want t know about it."

This is about his training which is his own. I will send him safely back to the caves. 

"Lara---"

It is merely phrased as a request. What I have to say is for Kon-El only. 

His father shook his head. "But he's okay?"

My son, he is perfectly healthy. On this matter I would never lie, she said. A light flared through the Fortress then and his father was gone.

"Grandma?"

You will consider your training more seriously, will you not? 

He gaped at the question. "What does that have to do with me being sick and bleeding?"

It is time for it, Kon-El. You were incredibly lucky this time, but the time is coming when your training will be needed. 

"For rhinoceri from outer space?"

For posterity.  
***

February 18, 2078 

The tube was familiar. He'd been scanned by one every year since the Fortress had been fixed and more than a few times after sustaining injury in battle or for testing after effects of fucking magic. Like always, it never felt like anything. When he stepped back out, he was not suprised to find a chair behind him, something primitive made from ice, but it would do.

You should rest, my child. Lara said. It was funny that a machine could convey pride.

His mother sighed. "You detected what I did? Connor's pregnant."

He is close to seven Earth weeks. 

"Convenient since we're on Erth and everything," he joked, leaning back in his seat. 

"Lara, what can you tell us? What can we expect?"

I am uncertain. Kon-El is part human, but of course you knew this, Chloe. 

"I was aware," mom deadpanned.

The baby is connected to Kon-El via a hybrid system that is neither Kryptonian or human. There are veins directly feeding into the fetus but not many. The main source of nutrition is an umbilical cord. 

Kon idly scratched at his stomach. Not having a belly button was a quirk he shared with his cousin and little sister because the Kryptonian parent had carried them. It didn't bother him much. It was a pain to hide in summer but it had the bonus benefit of discouraging Mo from where bikinis. There was some justice in that. His sister would stay pure as driven snow if he could help it. Not, of course, that Mo didn't date. She occasionally did. It was just his little sister didn't need to go advertising things. Alura either.

"Okay," he said. "So if there's not many veins and an umbilical cord, I'm not going to bleed out, am I?"

No. The main sustenance for the baby comes from the cord and a placenta as with fully human infants. You will not face the problems Kal-El or Kara Zor-El have, but this does not mean there are not complications. 

His mom went rigid. "Explain."

I do not know what I am detecting. The mother is not human, is she? 

"We don't know," his mom replied. "We don't know who the mother is. Kon has slept with a meteor mutant, not completely different from me, and a demi-god."

Now you must explain. Gods do not exist, Chloe Sullivan. They are fairy stories no more real than our old religion centered on Rao. 

"Apparently at least the Greek mythic gods exist. It's possibly the child is related to their king."

Gods do not---

"They do in Themyscira," Chloe huffed. "I know. I felt the same way the first time I heard about magic and then the first time I met Diana. Mystical things at least are real on this planet."

Magic, his grandmother huffed. Is physics run amok, which, alas, can affect my children. Gods do not exist. 

"Semantics then. One mother candidate has been mutated by Kryptonite, while the other contender comes from an ancient line of metas who are beyond powerful and set themselves up to be worshipped."

That is sufficient, Chloe. Thank you. 

His mother shook her head. "I'll never get used to the Fortress deferring to me."

I can be polite. I apologize that Jor-El cannot. Lara replied before redirecting the conversation back to him. The mother's genetic contribution makes the course of the pregnancy uncertain. There seems to be no chance you'll bleed out and there does not appear to be any signs of incompatibility. You are not rejecting the child. 

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and cupped his stomach. "So it's not like dad and Mo?"

It is not. 

"Thank god," his mom finished, hugging him. "I can't deal with you having put yourself in mortal danger, Kon-El."

Until I know the exact parentage, I cannot predict the course of the pregnancy. If the mother is merely a Smallville mutant or if she is, ahem, a 'goddesss' would irrevoacbly alter the progression. 

"Can't you tell by now. You know what meteor rock mutation looks like in Moira?" his mom asked.

It is not like Mo-Ru-Cek, no, but I assume the mother cannot heal as you do. Kryptonite mutations vary. I would have to know more about both her and the other candidate's genetics and powers before I could determine which is the mother. 

"We can bring them in tomorrow."

"Mom!"

Fierce green eyes glared back at him. "We need to know what we're dealing with and what complications you're in for. Besides, you owe it to Sandsmark and Carpenter to let them know what's happening. We're going home and you're calling them now."

"Mom!"

I must agree, Kon-El. We must know the mother and about her powers as much as we can. 

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Everyone's against me."

Do not be petty. You have placed yourself in this condition. Neither your mother nor I did this. 

"Agreed, Lara. Now we're going home but we'll be back tomorrow with the women in question. Thank you for caring for my son," his mother said, stepping to the console in the center of the Fortress. 

It is my honor. 

And with a flash they were on their way home.  
***

Kon was staring at his cell phone. He was terrified to touch it. He'd fought Gotham's worst and aliens, interdimensional horrors and Doomsday (although Doomsday had pretty much kicked his ass and if it hadn't been for his dad and Mo, he'd be really most sincerely dead), but he was more terrified of the phone than he'd been of anything in his life.

Even more than all the lime green sticks in his bathroom.

His mom sighed and shook her head at him from across the kitchen table. "You have to do this."

"I'm going to!"

"You've been staring at the phone for an hour. Connor Sullivan, the longer you wait, the harder it will be."

"I don't believe that."

"It's hard, but this isn't even about embarrassment or bad blood or the mess you've made with Wondergirl and Ice Queen. This is about finding out exactly the baby's heritage and how best to care for it. Neither Cassie is so cold as to hold a grudge that could make you or a baby sick. Just call them."

"Mom, Cassie Sandsmark doesn't even know what dad can do!"

"You mean what both you and your father share."

"Yes, exactly. This is beyond embarrassing."

"It'll be more embarrassing if I do it for you. Now, a stor ."

He sighed and picked up his phone, dialing up one of the standbys on his speed dial. "Cassie, hey, we have to talk---"  
Back to index  
Chapter 6 by Tobywolf13  
April 27, 2043 - Watchtower 

Kon stretched his arms up over his head and yawned. He was exhausted and that was a feat for a Kryptonian. Though, he'd been prepping overtime for a show that was a co-effort between him and Maddie and also had a weekend trip with the League to freaking space for Darkseid-driven evil. 

Every time he went off world, it always left him a little drained and always appreciating the yellow sun. 

He had duty on the Watchtower that night, which was a little like being a fireman. He was around waiting for any call this weekend to take off with the others. Mo had finals that weekend at Met U and Fawkes had had quite the throwdown with Batman to convince him Mo needed the weekend off to ace her journalism exams.

Uncle Bruce oftened buckled for his mom. She was just scary that way.

Jax and Alura were busy doing something in Jakarta or was it Java? Kon forgot. They were on some kind of natural disaster relief. He was the one waiting for a call for anything evil afoot in the Western Hemisphere, along with Wondergirl, Cassandra Sandsmark.

Cassie was very pretty. Tall, blonde hair. She had a look more reminiscent of his aunt and his cousin than of Diana. Her history was almost as fucked up as Kon and his rag tag group of "siblings" (well Jax was close enough). When his mom explained that his Aunt Diana was a goddess basically created out of the clay of the Earth of Themyscira, Kon had asked if she were high or possibly on a magic bender.

Apparently, his weird threshold handled aliens and magic but had busted out at gods, but damn if Diana basically wasn't one. Cassie was half, sort of a Herculesian deal (and Zeus got around). Her mom was human and her dad was, supposedly, king of all those ancient Greek gods that Kon had had to study in latin class in college. It didn't really click for him those stories hadn't been just stories. Of course, humans had believed before his Uncle J'onn, Shayera, and the Lanterns went public that aliens didn't exist either.

More things in heaven and earth...

He liked and believed in his "grandmother," Lara's, interpretation. The gods had to be just another form of meta who had manipulated the masses into worshipping them. Okay so totally immortal metas, but if one knew his mom then that wasn't completely out of the question either. It's just Zeus, white beard, lightning bolts, uh, doing odd things as a swan. THAT ZEUS was Cassie's dad.

It wasn't a pleasant relationship, but considering he slept with any woman that struck his fancy---and many often did---and had bastard children littering the planet, Kon understood that a little. It wasn't that Lana had ever had other children, thank god, that much psycho didn't need to go any further than his stupid gene pool. But he knew what it was like to have a parent whose actions your really loathed and couldn't be proud of and, what it was, to be an afterthought in their lives and sort of resent that anyway.

Not that Zeus was psychotic or evil or liked ending the world sometimes (or trying to) with Lex Luthor. It was more that he was just so damn profligate.

Demi-"god" or extraterrestrial. It's not like they all didn't have massive issues.

So he sat down next to her at the commissary and handed her a Coke. 

"Cassie, how goes the dating life?"

Cassie rolled her eyes and blew a piece of blonde hair out of her face. "Not that you remember it. You and Cass have been attached at the hip since like Kindergarten!"

"Third grade. It's totally different. I was very lonely in kindergarten."

Cassie narrowed her eyes at him but continued to drink. "I'm serious. You and Cassie have what? An item for about 15 years?"

He nodded. "Most of Mo's life, yeah, give or take my freshman year bullshit."

"Then you don't know how disastrous it is out there!"

"You're with Jax!"

Cassie sipped again. "He's great. I love him, but he's the JLA bicycle."

"Not for a year, he's not been," Kon countered.

"Yeah, but he's also surrounded by a bazillion co-eds in Boston and can have anyone he wanted."

"Sure cause that's not mega creepy."

"You know what I mean. He's so Jax . I know he's been so good to me this year, but there's no guarantee he won't go all manwhore on a new meta in town or something."

"You're selling him short. He really does like you."

"Then why does he shut me out?"

Kon blinked. "Huh?"

"I...it's not like the whole League doesn't know what Lex did to him, why he hates Lex so much, and why he's not like the rest of you."

Kon closed his eyes and pushed down the knot in his throat. Everything that had happened to Jax was directly his fault. Even now, almost twenty years later, he'd never forgiven himself. Lord knew that Mary Donovan hadn't or Jessie. 

He didn't deserve it.

If he hadn't been a selfish ass, Jax would still have most of his powers, and, to be honest, the powers were the least of Jax's problems. Oh, he still was sarcastic as ever, still loved a good party, had spent most of the last twenty years moving from girl to girl half his age, but Kon didn't buy he'd been very happy doing it. Jax was scared of how badly his mother hated his father, even more scared of it than Kon had been over his Kangaroo and Lana. Maybe it was because he had his parents and his aunt and uncle as live-in examples of how things could be amazing for a Kryptonian. Maybe it was because Jax's relationship with his stepfather had been incredibly awkward since he'd been forced out of the meta closet by his sister's own over curious theories seven years ago.

But, deep down, Kon believed most of what seemed to bother Jax came from Dax-Ur. Jax and Kon's father were more similar than anyone in the League ever would have understood. Clark Kent was serious, sincere, and all authority. He did it by extreme trustworthiness and not with the glowering and intimidation his Uncle Bruce commanded. Jax's reputation proceeded him in the Watchtower. He was the party animal, the punchline. A valuable asset for his ferocious intelligence and ability for tactical planning, but he'd never be taken seriously the way the other Kryptonians, even Mo at her young age, were.

Kon knew it was an act.

And he knew sitting next to Cassie, seeing the frown etched on her face, that she'd dated Jax long enough to know it was true.

"Cassie, Jax is just complicated."

She sighed and drummed her fingers on the table. "I know that. Everyone thinks he's just so...well Jax!"

"But he's not. It's not like any of the six of us aren't deeply, psychologically fucked up."

Cassie nodded. "I've noticed. I just...he could tell me things, you know? I love him but I can't reach him. Sometimes I try. I share all my issues with my, uh, more Greek family."

"Jax doesn't share, even with us. I'm sorry."

She shook her head and crumpled her drained can. "Me too. I don't know if I can do this forever, with a giant brick wall between us."

Kon gaped. "What?"

She shrugged, stood up, and tossed her can away. "It's not a relationship if the other person never gives, Connor."  
****

February 18, 2078 - Kent Farm 

"Cassie?" Kon held his breath on the phone, hoping she wasn't actually answering but that, in all improbability, he'd mistaken her answering machine for her real voice

"Hey Kon, uh, what's up?" she chimed in on the other side, her voice hesitant and unsure.

He'd earned that. Neither of them had talked since the 9th of January, not anything more than what was necessary to communicate on duty. They'd had a big session to talk everything out and had agreed that, at the time, it was something they'd both wanted for very similar and selfish reasons. It didn't make the fact they'd slept together any easier to deal with or any less embarrassing.

He didn't know how she'd take the possible maternity bit. As his mother often said, it would bring everything up to awkward factor eight. 

"Cassie, we need to talk, you know, about what happened."

Pause on the line. False brightness. "Oh, it's fine. I know we were both under Anna's spell crap and that it wasn't our fault at all. I mean we both made a mistake and I know it's sort of weird lately but I'm really not mad. If anything, I blame me."

Mistake .

Kon clutched his stomach on reflex. There was something terrible about a second generation accident (his sister Mo had always called him a surprise and insisted so was his child). But Kon knew what it felt like to realize your parents hadn't tried at all, that their lives had been irrevocably altered by your unannounced existence.

He hadn't thought about having a child since before Alura and Jax's daughter, Nala, was born, but he'd never wanted such a thing for his kid, vowed it'd be different.

He'd lied.

"Kon, hello? Are you okay?"

He sighed and steadied himself. "Cassie? Um, how much did Jax ever tell you about Kryptonians?"

"Huh?"

"This is important. How much do you know about where me and Mo came from?"

"Krypton sort of?" She asked, confused.

"Oh man, he never said anything?"

"About?"

Kon rolled his eyes. His friend had once been the biggest manwhore on the planet. He'd never once mentioned to Cassie Sandsmark to use extra protection in order to keep him from getting a bun in the oven? Oh for fuck's sake. "I...how much do you know about my dad?"

"Superman, all powerful almost, red cape, yadda yadda. Basically the best the League has, makes the rest of us but Diana and Bruce look outclassed? Only met him a bazillion times, Kon."

"Oh, okay, this is super awkward."

"Just spit it out, you're being weird even with the mess we made."

"The baby is not a mess!" Kon snapped and winced when the chandelier over the old oak table shook. He was gonna have to rein in his temper more.

"I'm not pregnant, so I don't know what you heard from Miss Martian but..."

"I'm pregnant," Kon said, and then he couldn't stop himself. "Cassie I fucked up. Kryptonian men sometimes get pregnant and that's where Mo and I came from. My dad had me and Mo, like from right out of his stomach, yanno? I figured Jax might have mentioned it or been paranoid about it to avoid getting knocked up too. I just never thought it'd happen to me cause I'm half human and obviously human men never ever go through this. I didn't mean to drag you into this but I need to take you to the Fortress for a scan so I can---"

"Kon stop. What are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant!"

Cassie sighed on the other end of the line. "Okay, you're pregnant and I'm the mom and now the Fortress needs to what? Figure out what's in there? How mixed up our powers are gonna be in the baby?"

Kon blinked and sat up straighter. "You're taking this rather well."

"Oh I'm freaking out about being a mom. Not something I'm into, but the male pregnancy thing? My dad turned into a swan once and raped a woman. I get weird parental reproduction, okay?"

"Well I'm freaking out here too! I am not into pain and the baby is gonna hurt and I am not dad material."

Cassie snorted. "That's just perfect. Okay, well that's like what? We have seven months. We can get those books or whatever and figure out a split shift for who gets the kiddo when. I'm not gonna just walk away from my kid."

"Six actually, if that. We give birth at 8 months tops."

"Oh, okay we'll need to read up faster, and talk to your dad and the Fortress and just suss it all out." Cassie was saying all the calm words but her voice was about two octaves too high.

"See, um, about the your kid, that's actually why grandma wants to see you."

"Martha Kent's not around anymore."

"No the Fortress is programmed to act like my grandm Lara."

"Weird."

"Anyway," he snapped, his tone harder than he'd intended. "I don't know 100% that you're the mom."

"What?"

"I don't know that you're the mother for sure. See, Cass Carpenter and I, we might have made love on New Year's Day."

"Well if maternity is in dsipute, Connor, then I can guess it's more than a might have. Ugh, you really are disgusting!"

Perfect, and this wasn't even the Cassandra who called him a psychopath incapable of having feelings. 

"No...it's not like that."

"You know. I know we were sad that night and lonely and I'm not even crushing on you, have never been attracted to you, but if you were just burning through a rolodex that's low. It's not like I rushed out the next day to fuck the real thing. I mean I would love to be with him ---"

"But you can't, Cassie, and I could have. I mean Cass is available is all."

"And now you don't even know who the mother of your child is, smooth Connor."

"It's Kon. Only Fawkes gets to say that shit when I'm in trouble and I'm sorry but I need to know who the mom is! The Fortress says it can't predict how my pregnancy will go without knowing if the baby is part demi-god or meteor mutant, okay? I know you're pissed and you have a right to be---"

"Pissed does not cover it."

"I know but even if the baby's not yours, you have to help me figure this out. You're not gonna let a baby get sick or hurt cause you're pissed at me, are you?"

"Of course not. Does Cass know?"

"Huh?"

"Oh you know Cass Carpenter, Ice Queen, the girl you pretended I was when you were doing me?"

"Well it's not like you weren't pretending I was---"

"Don't even breathe his name, Connor. He's better than you."

"Yeah, he really is," Kon replied sadly. "Cass doesn't know. I...come to the Fortress with me tomorrow and if she's not the mother, I won't even have to tell her."

"No."

"You just said you won't hurt a baby!"

"No, you coward. If I have to go, you have to tell Cass. That's not fair to sneak around. She deserves to know what might be going on, that she could be a mom."

"But if she's not, no need to worry her."

"You mean no need to admit you got yourself into a huge mess for another year to her until you can't hide a baby from the League and such. With Jax and Alura's big mouths, it'll be soon. Double soon with Mo."

"I---"

"Connor, either you tell her or I'll call her myself. You have 3 hours."

"What?"

The click told him how screwed he was.  
Back to index  
Chapter 7 by Tobywolf13  
February 14, 2028 

Cass lay with her head in his lap. Smiling at the old pond in front of him, he trailed his fingers through long, dark hair. She giggled and curled in closer to him.

"You know how to show a girl a good time. Truffles, Godiva, a romantic picnic by our spot."

"Be a little more romantic if our spot wasn't by your lake and near your dad's house, but I felt sentimental. I mean I could fly you to Paris or Cairo or Johannesburg but I just sometimes want to be home in Smallville."

Cass nodded and grabbed his hand in hers. "It's a unique town."

Kon frowned and felt a pang of guilt, perhaps something inherited from his father. "I'm sorry you know."

Cass frowned back and looked up at him. "I like chocolates!"

"No, I know this sounds incredibly stupid, but I'm sorry about the meteor showers. You'd be normal and not have grown up being all paranoid about Belle Reve if not for dad's stupid planet...mine too sort of."

She sighed and squeezed his hand. "You sound like him, your dad sometimes."

He nodded. "Not the worst thing to be."

"Glad to hear you say that after everything when we were freshmen."

"Not my best moment. I just...you could be normal. Mom could be if not for the stupid showers, if not for everything being so fucked up."

"And I said I wanted to be normal when?"

He decided it was best not to mention how freaked out she'd been the first time they'd made love and how the destruction she'd wrought had flipped her out. Cass was never one in most moments to regret being a mutant.

"Not out loud. I just know it's hard. Mom wanted to be the one for Mo so badly, and I know that it's good we fit well and I can't get frostbite. I love the way your powers feel, it's the only time I can even feel a chill or goosebumps and it's amazing to me but I know a regular guy..."

"I don't date regular guys. I date alien kangaroos," she joked. "What even brought all this on. Saying your family caused kryptonite poisoning in Smallville is ridiculous. You know it is. Your dad was an infant and in the second shower, he helped stop as best he could."

"No, I get that intellectually. I was thinking."

"About?"

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Us. I never want you to feel like you have to settle for me cause I know there are other metas out there. Hell, humans you could figure out how to adjust your powers to. I don't want you to date me just cause our abilities mesh so well."

She pinched him lightly on the thigh and he pretended to wince for her benefit. "You're so dumb."

"Huh?"

"I'm with you cause I like you, even in the mopes and bitchiness."

"I---"

"You don't ditch your best friend since you were eight, and it's just better now."

"If not for stupid rocks, you could have been a normal person. Hell, if it had just been luck of the draw like your brother, you could have been normal."

"I'm not and I like us." She emphasized her point by dragging her fingers over his arm, leaving a thin sheen of frost as she did so, just enough to raise the vaunted goosebumps on his arm and Kon shivered, relishing the sensation.

"I like us too." He sighed and started to stroke her hair again. "Cass, you, uh, ever thought about kids?"

"We're 19."

"I know. I meant...okay so it's totally not true cause I am a guy , yanno? I mean I'm a human guy and not my dad at all, but I mean me being so sick a while ago after we made love."

"Made you think you might have---"

"No! I'm a guy!"

"You established this, three times now."

"Exactly. It just made me think about kids. After school and career stuff and just getting stable---and I know cause of Grandpa Lionel I have the money, still doesn't mean I don't want to be an artist on my own---would you want to have a family with me."

"I love the Kent Cabal, of course I'd love adding to it when we're not still just kids ourselves. Also, I still say you were, yanno."

"Was not. Like I said, you have a giant rhinocerous alien slam into you!"

"Uh-huh." She breezed. "So if we had kids, how do you think you'd look in maternity wear?"  
***

February 18, 2078 

Kon set his mother down and eyed the door to Cass's apartment as if it were lined in Kryptonite. He had no desire to touch it, let alone knock on it. His mother took care of it for him.

"Cass?"

It took several knocks before she opened the door and peered down at his mother. Cass was pointedly ignoring him. "Fawkes is this an apocalypse or an invasion?"

His mother sighed. "I know you're on leave, Ice Queen, but we have a matter of life and death that's not technically in either category but it's still very important."

She finally eyed him and shook her head, "If this is about him and me...Mrs. Kent, I'll consult with you on League matters cause whatever I feel shouldn't endanger lives, but I'm done with some members of your family, you know that."

"I understand that," his mother replied, edging to the entrance. "However, we have a very serious matter to discuss and it has little to do with you two as a couple and everything to do with saving a life. Can we come in?"

Cass glared at him and shook her head. "No one ever said that being a superhero would be easy. Come in but I hope he keeps talking to a minimum."

He walked in and sat down on the sofa. It had been one they'd bought together over twenty years ago. It was still in immaculate condition and as comfortable as he remembered. He merely assumed that she wouldn't want any reminders of him or their time together at all. 

Cass stayed standing, her arms crossed over her chest. "Alright, talk."

His mother nodded and looked to him. "This is Kon's story to tell."

"Is it really even related to life saving, Mrs. Kent?"

"Yes, I promise you it is. Connor Sullivan, now."

He squirmed in his seat. His mom only said his name like that when he was in serious trouble. "I..."

"You?" Cass prodded.

"Well I...that is to say that...well you know a funny thing is that--"

"What are you trying to say?" Cass bit out.

"I'm pregnant."

Cass's eyes went wide and she turned to his mother first. "This is not a funny joke. I don't appreciate you trying to reconcile or matchmake or whatever you call this with a lie and insistence on life saving."

"It's not a lie," his mother replied with all the authority she carried at League meetings. "Kon is pregnant and we need to know as much about the child's genetics as we can so that the Fortress can help deliver the baby safely."

Cass turned back to him, her eyes wide. "You're really pregnant? This isn't a trick?"

"You know my family. Why would it be true?"

Cass automatically grabbed her stomach. "I'm broken."

Kon looked away for a moment, letting his mother hug her and stroke her hair. "No Cass, we don't know if you are necessarily and, even if the baby's yours, it doesn't make you broken. I can't have children either."

"Cause of the meteor rocks and hey! What do you mean if ?"

Kon dared to look back up at her. "You know I slept with Cassie Sandsmark too. I honestly have no idea if the baby is part meteor mutant or part Greek god. I need to find out. Cassie already agreed to come with me tomorrow for DNA testing at the fortress but said I had to tell you first so we could do the testing at the same time."

Cass's expression darkened. "You weren't going to tell me, were you?"

"What?"

"You weren't going to tell me that you were pregnant if Cassie hadn't made you. You'd have gone to the fortress and gotten tested in hopes it was Wondergirl's and just hoped you'd never have to admit to me what happened."

His mom looked equally as mad. "Connor?"

"I thought about it," he said, looking at his shoelaces. "I never meant---"

"To what, Kon? Humiliate me? Lie to my face?"

"Cass wait---"

"No, I'll be there at the caves at 1pm sharp waiting to go. I'm not going to let hating your guts keep me from helping a child... my child if the baby is that."

"I honestly don't know," he replied.

"Honesty is novel from you," she snapped. "I'll help you if the baby's mine. Hell, I'd help the Kent family with the baby if it weren't."

Kon sighed at her careful choice of words that seemed to boil down to babysitting with Mo if that was ever an issue and not ever dealing with him directly.

"But?"

"Weekend mom, helpful family friend, whatever, this doesn't make us a couple anymore than you being born made your dad and Lana Luthor a couple, do you understand?"

"We're not dad and my bitch bio mom," he snarled, sighing even more deeply as he watched his mother flinch. After so many decades and Lana's death, his mother was still sensitive about losing out to her for a time when he'd been just fifteen.

"Apples never fall far from the trees, Kon. Now get out of my home."  
Back to index  
Chapter 8 by Tobywolf13  
July 25, 2017 

"Mommy?" Kon asked, turning the knob of his parents' bedroom door. He pushed the door open easily. It wasn't particularly heavy and, even though he was only eight, he was already very strong. Like able to lift his mom's beetle strong.

Even if his mom and dad had told him not to do that since he dropped it that one time and bent the bumper.

His mother was sitting up in bed watching the news, but he knew she wasn't so much watching it as staring off into space, the light of the television flickering across her face. Kon had very good eyesight and could see the tear tracks drying on her cheeks. He sped over to her in a heartbeat.

His mom didn't even jump. She couldn't speed as he could, but she was so used to it from his dad and from him that she never even reacted to it. He tried to surprise her sometimes but never could. It amazed him how, even though she didn't have the same powers---he knew she was special too but not sure how yet---that she could cope so well with people as fast and as strong as him and dad.

"Mommy?" he asked, squeezing her tightly in a hug, though not too tightly to hurt her. "You're crying!"

His mom sniffled but didn't lie. She'd been caught and he appreciated that she wasn't going to lie to him. " A stor , I'm just worried about your father. It's hard when he's away covering stories. Sometimes, like this time, they send him to places where it's very dangerous. I know it's his job and he loves being a reporter, but it's very hard."

"Is daddy coming back?"

"Oh sweetheart," she replied, hugging him back. "He always does. It's just been a week and they don't have good communication where he is. I worry is all. But he's always just fine when he gets home."

Kon nodded, but didn't feel all that better. Seeing his mother cry always did that to him. "Mommy?"

"What baby?"

He sighed and started playing with the collar of his mommy's fuzzy sushi pajamas. "I don't know if I want to be a reporter when I grow up after all. I don't want to travel."

His mom looked at him and her eyes watered. "I know you don't have to go into the family business, and you're still so little. You have the right to make these sorts of decisions on your own when you're big, but I really hoped you'd be like your father. I know that's selfish of me, but you could do so many great things."

He blinked. "Reporting is good, but mommy, it's just a paper."

She tickled his nose. "It's the paper of kings and prime ministers, besides it's where they talk about The Ghost. You like him right? He's better than Batman."

Kon giggled. "Every hero's better than Batman. He's grouchy! Do you think I could be a superhero some day?" he asked, concentrating hard and making a box of tissues float to them so that his mom could take a few. "I have lots of powers."

She nodded and took a few. He let the box fall gently to the mattress below. "It's not about having powers. Batman doesn't have them or The Green Arrow. It's about who you are right here," she said, pointing to his chest. "It's about being honest and kind and true. When you do things like steal candy or hurt Gerald's feelings, a stor , that's not being heroic."

"I'm not six anymore! I'm bigger."

"I know. I just want you to be a good boy. You do have so many powers. I know it's so hard and so much responsibility for someone so young, but you could be amazing, Connor Sullivan."

He grinned and burrowed deeper into her side. "I could be like The Ghost?"

"I think so; I kind of hope so, but that's always going to be your choice to make. We all have to make choices. You choose to be a hero or a dog catcher. Whatever makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone else. I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything, even though I wish you'd be---"

"A reporter?"

She smiled a little funny and nodded. "Your father's job is so important, and it helps so many people. So even when he's aways, I know it's for a good reason."

"But you miss him?"

"Always, but he always flies back to me."

"Hee, I guess he does."  
***

October 31, 2030 

"I miss daddy," Mo said, her red curls bouncing up and down with the vehemence of her statement. She was dressed this year like the little mermaid and he had to admit with her shock of auburn hair it worked for her. She'd done Stitch last year, which his mother hadn't found all that funny. She'd been even less amused he'd gone as a human and confused Mo totally.

This year he was going as Prince Eric so that they were a matching set. That, actually, went okay with her dark hair although not so much with the darker complexion.

Kon sighed and glanced in the mirror one last time, straightening the lapels of his rented outfit. Whenever he looked into the mirror, it was hard not to see his biological mother's features: the slightly pointed canines, the narrow chin, the eyes that were just a little bigger than everyone else's, anime eyes. The eyes always threw him. It was like looking Lana Luthor in the face. He didn't understand how his mother had dealt with looking at him for over twenty years and seeing the face of someone she hated so much. The cognitive dissonance must have driven her crazy. He especially didn't know how she handled it after he'd been such a royal ass in high school.

"Kon? Are you okay? You look fine!" his sister assured him, grabbing a pillow case half her size. "It's time to get candy! If we speed, we can do a bunch of neighborhoods."

Mo was almost six and had finally come into her speed last summer. She was very good at it, although she sometimes blurred into things if she wasn't paying close enough attention to stopping. It was happening less frequently.

Besides, did you really need that many telephone poles in Lowell County?

Startled out of his recollections, he patted the top of her head. "If you promise not to tell mom, we'll do a few extra neighborhoods with the speed, but if you tell her, I'll deny it."

"Yay!" she said, zooming into his arms for Mo had almost always been an accomplished flier, now she was just supersonic. 

He hugged her tightly and set her down. "So, my lady, what's the first place we hit?"

"Mr. Ross's. He gives out king sizes!"

Kon chuckled. "Good planning. You have to be strategic."

His sisted nodded and slung her pillow case over her shoulder. "Exactly. I just wish daddy were here. He's always fun to go with and he likes costumes. He could be Sebastian!"

Kon snickered. Given his dad's mercurial nature, the crab would suit him just fine. "That's be hilarious."

"Yes," she agreed, but then her mood darkened and she bit her lower lip the way mom always did when she was worried. "When does he come back from Istanbul?"

Istanbul was having a political uprising. It was as good a place as any to claim his father was away covering, even though it couldn't be further from the truth. He, Diana, and Zatanna had gone three dimensions over to stop a powerful wizard from taking over that world (naturally, evil never wanted to sit around a play tiddly winks). He'd be back soon, but it'd already been a week and League communication wasn't strong enough to reach them. It was nerve wracking and now that he knew Superman's secret, he didn't understand how his mom had done it alone for years.

She was definitely the strongest person he knew.

Kneeling down, he stroked his sister's hair. "He'll be back. Mom says he always flies back to her. You know he's going to. So let's get a huge bag of candy. He'll be hungry when he comes."

"Okay! But Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"I get to keep the king sizes."  
***

February 15, 2078 

"I wish your father were here. We always have the worst times to be off world. We were gone when Mo got her X-ray vision and the worst rendition of the 'We're Kryptonian' speech I've ever heard---"

"I think I did okay!" Kon objected.

"She tried locking herself in the bathroom. I don't consider that a raging success."

"Locking doors is a proud Kent family tradition," he riposted, trying to take his mom's pacing as a good sign, even though it wasn't.

She glared at him from where he sat on the living room sofa. "Now he's gone while you're not only pregnant but I don't even know where to begin with this, Connor Sullivan."

Kon gulped. Full human name was always bad. "Mom---"

"I gave you last night to rest and think about what you'd done. I was too tired to argue and stress is bad for pregnancies. Trust me. I've seen your father and aunt pregnant enough times to know that trying to keep you calm is best, not to mention your TK is already fritzing."

"Yeah, uh, I can get the splattered apples off the walls. I'm sorry about that this morning."

She waved her hand dismissively. "That doesn't bother me. I'm not even as bothered by the fact that you don't know which Cassandra is the mother."

"Really?"

"I said not as . I think what you did was incredibly irresponsible and you should have known better, but I'm the most upset that you trying lying to Cass Carpenter."

"I didn't lie! I just wasn't going to tell the truth," he objected, looking away when he realized how lame that sounded.

His mom stopped pacing and glared at him, placing her hands on her hips. "You were going to lie to her by omission. Cassie Sandsmark had a point. It was wrong for you to sneak around behind someone's back and try to avoid telling her that she might be a mother."

"Might being the operative word here. If it's Cassie S's then there was no need to upset Cass." Somehow it was even harder than normal not to insert the word "my" before his ex-fiance's name.

"No, you didn't do it to be noble or spare her confusion. You were doing it to hide something that might be affecting her from Cass. That wasn't right and I expect more of you. A stor , I don't say this to make you feel like there's a Boogeyman haunting you, but sneaking around and lying by omission is something Lana would have done."

Kon felt his heart sink. "Mom?"

"I don't like bringing her up, you know I don't. You know I don't think you're much like her, except in appearance in which it's uncanny the resemblance."

"I know," and he had the urge to add I'm sorry. to that.

"But this behavior. It's not acceptable. It's not becoming of your House, it's not what Kents do, and it's not honorable for a League member. You need to think about that. You're going to be a father sooner than you realize. Pregnancy goes so fast."

"Oh man."

"Exactly. In months, really, you'll have someone else to care for, to set an example for and starting that journey off by lying isn't right. It's a bad precedent and it's not the man I've raised."

Kon snickered and touched his stomach. It was still flat, he wasn't far enough along to show at all, but it was an ironic turn of phrase. "Mostly."

"You know what I mean. Your father and I raised you to have integrity and trying to hide things from Cass was not only selfish but cruel."

"It might not even be her kid!"

"That's really not the point," she replied, sitting down on the sofa beside him and stroking back his bangs. "Sometimes I don't understand the mistakes you make."

"I was drunk with Cassie and so sad and regretful with Cass. One thing led to another and it was an accident," he finished, still ashamed that he'd done the one thing he promised himself he wouldn't do. He'd been a "surprise" as his parents called it, but an unexpected child to him still sounded like an accident. He'd never wanted to do that to his own children.

"No, sweetheart, I mean about you and Cass to begin with. Fifteen years ago when it all collapsed. I don't understand why you---"

"Mom, I fucked up. I lost her, and now I might have to deal with her ridiculously long term in awkward co-parenting cause we're both immortal or long enough lived to be trading off Thanksgivings til the year 3000!"

"I understand that. I hope, in some ways, the baby isn't hers because I know how much stress one is, especially a special one, under the best of circumstances. You don't really have a relationship anymore to put stress on top of, not the way she's so hurt and bitter with you. However---"

"Oh joy."

"However," his mother continued. "If the baby is hers, then you'll have to learn to be civil to each other even if it's just when you switch off weeks or holidays, when you go to graduations and school plays. You'll have to learn to get along well enough never to let your child feel like they did something wrong, cause they didn't. Your mistakes are your own, Connor Sullivan."

"Believe me. I know on both accounts, actually," he replied. Until he'd learned the hard way what a raging psychopath his bio-mom was (and wasn't that keen?), he'd felt tremendous guilt for existing and fucking up his biological parent's relationship. Of course, once you learned Lana Luthor couldn't love, it took the edge off. Nonetheless, he knew that pain and recrimination.

No, if he couldn't keep his child from being a "surprise," he could keep it from feeling as he had.

"Good, then let's get to the caves. You don't want to leave the girls waiting. They might kill each other."

"Or me," he grumbled, picking his mother up and speeding her to the caves.  
Back to index  
Chapter 9 by Tobywolf13  
Smallville, Kansas - August 13, 2039 

"Connor Sullivan, come here," his mom said gently, patting the chair besides her in the family office. 

She was in her forties, technically, but looked like a co-ed. Even though she worked under the Tiffanies at The Daily Planet and even though Richard White, Perry's nephew and the EIC who had succeeded him, had also taken on the mantle of protecting his parents' secret, things weren't going to last much longer. More and more of the staff in the Planet assumed she was just an intern and didn't realize that the "girl" before them was one of the most decorated reporters at the paper. Good plastic surgery and botox as an excuse could only last so long.

It made Kon sad. He knew that both his parents, especially his mother, loved the paper and that they and the Whites had long been friends. Even if Perry was growing older, he and his nephew had fiercely protected the truth behind Fawkes and Superman. His mom had been there since she was a summer intern of barely fifteen. It was a long time to leave something behind.

On another level, it made Kon depressed on his own behalf. He was thirty now and didn't look that much younger than his age, but passing was such a short window. He knew in another thirty years---and only if he was very lucky---he'd have to move on from New York, start a new life, under a new alias, always moving on that way.

At least Cass would be with him; he wouldn't be alone.

"Mom?"

She smiled. "Your father's patrolling late tonight. Uncle Bruce needed help with something in Gotham."

"That damn clown?"

"Langauge, a stor ," she chided. "We've been talking."

"You and dad?"

She nodded. "We know you're going to propose to Cass and we're thrilled."

He blushed. "I thought I was being secretive."

She laughed. "You asked Alura to help you pick out the ring and she told Jax and Jax told Mo..."

"We don't have any secrets here! I thought that Alura could stay quiet."

"Jax can be persuasive, but she told me about the ring and that it's really beautiful."

Kon nodded and sped, popping back into reality with a jewelry box of a very specific shade of blue in his hands. "Tiffany's. I wanted to buy her something amazing, mom. With the interest I have in LuthorCorp it could have been six or seven carats."

His mom took the box and opened it, smiling approvingly at the ring. It was a good size but not overly ornate. It was the clarity and the color of sapphire blue that made it as valuable as it was. Kon didn't go insane with spending but, on the other hand, he could have bought a car with the money he spent on the ring, a nice car at that. 

"She'll like that. I can't stop you from spending what Lionel left you, but I appreciate you didn't go out to drop millions to make her look like J-Lo."

"Limits, I know," he replied, remembering what had happened with the Luthors when he'd been a kid. "You think she'll like it?"

"I do, but I was wondering if you might give something else to her as well."

Kon frowned. "I talked it over with Lur, we thought about a bracelet and I really did think about it, there was a beautiful ruby tennis bracelet, I swear there was, but I saw this ring and fell in love with it."

"I was actually thinking of something else," she said, slipping the Kawatchee bracelet---the bracelet his father had given her a few days before his birth---off of her wrist. He'd never seen her without it. She even wore it underneath her body armor for patrol.

"Mom?"

"We talked to Kara. It's traditional for these to be passed down through the House to the first born. Kara wears Lara's and she was always going to give it to whomever marries Alura. It'd be like how Uncle Jimmy symbolically gave it to her, you know? Anyone Alura marries would do that with her," she finished, pushing the bracelet toward him. "This is for you now; you're ready."

He pushed it back towards her. "I can't...it's yours . Dad wanted it for you."

"And I've had it for a long time and I know that he loves me," she finished, pointing to the Claddagh ring on her left ring finger, the one that she'd been engaged with the human way. "We both want you to be able to bring Cass into this family every way possible. We want you to honor both your heritages. She's earned that. She is family."

"But won't you regret it?"

His mother placed the bracelet in his palm and the not-actually-turquoise stone shone in the light. "Never. Now go and get her."  
***

August 14, 2039 

Cass snickered. "Fortress? I want to go see your grandmother for my birthday because?"

Kon kept his hands over her eyes. "Because it's fun to go to the Arctic?"

"If you'd taken me down south, there'd have been penguins at least," she said, walking slowly into the Fortress's main cavern.

Kon smiled and reached down with one hand to pull on the fabric of her spaghetti strapped sun dress. "Only one girl I know is told 'Fortress, dress warmly' and wears her summer finest."

"It's warm in here!" she said and he loved the way her voice tingled. "We have our own dress code. I noticed you're the one in short sleeves too."

"Maybe," he conceded, hoping he wasn't actually sweating. He was so nervous. "Alright: 3, 2, 1!" he said, pulling his hands away from her eyes. "What do you think."

Cass's eyes went wide and she reached out to touch one of the Fortress's crystal pillars. "It's so beautiful. It's like your landscapes."

He swallowed. "There's a program. Jax figured it out and taught me how to access it. You can set up holographic projections of Krypton, of what it was like. Dad has been taking Mo here a bit, to ease her into being who we are. She's still adjusting even though it's been some time."

She reached out and patted his arm. "You did okay telling her. It's always hard. It's not like your parents were amazing at it!"

He sighed. "But this is where dad and Aunt Kara came from. It's what I see sometimes when I paint. I don't even know how I see it, but I do."

She reached out and touched the low haning swirls of cotton candy colored clouds above them, whisps that sifted through her fingers. "It's even more beautiful in person. Your paintings didn't even compare."

"I know. I always told you I couldn't get the colors right."

She smiled and walked to where the Fortress had created a set of crystalline chairs and a table for them. Already there were oysters and other cold appetizers. "This is all so beautiful. It's a lovely birthday present."

"Well, I figured we could do the normal stuff later. I mean there's this indie movie at The Talon that Alura won't shut up about and it's fancy and French and stuff and I was like we can always do both."

"So which is more 'normal' for us? The alien fortress or the pretending we have high brow tastes?"

He laughed. "Okay there's also a best of John Hughes fest in Metropolis. It's more us."

She giggled and picked up the bottle of champagne. He sped over to her and opened it before she could blink. "You are just showing off, Mr. Kent."

"Indeed I am. Happy Birthday, Cass," he finished, pouring her a flute. 

She slurped and oyster and sipped her drink. "This takes the sting out of turning thirty."

Kon sighed and poured his own drink, guzzling it a bit and sitting down in his chair. "Just what? 970 more years to go?"

Cass's smile faltered a little. "Something like that. Nothing like knowing you'll be around for centuries to also take the sting out of a 'milestone' birthday."

Reaching out, he took her hand and stroked it. "Then I'm glad we'll be around together. I don't think there's anyone else I'd rather spend the next millennium with."

"I know. I guess we're just really lucky."

He nodded and got down on one knee in front of her. Cass's eyes were huge, easily the size of tennis balls. "Cassandra Carpenter---"

"Kon?"

"You're my best friend and you put up with me when I'm not thinking clearly, and are my rock when I am. I've never regretted that you found out my secret when we were kids and I'm selfishly excited that you'll be with me for so many more years to come." Pulling out the Tiffany's box, he opened it, showing her the ring. "Will you marry me?"

"Kon!"

"That's my name," he said. "Cass, come on. We've been dating practically half our lives."

Tears welling in her eyes, she stuck out her hand. "Yes."

The ring was on her finger before she could blink. "I...uh, might have been excited."

Cass grinned. "It's amazing, Kon. You didn't pick this out yourself."

"Lur helped. She has a good eye and a level head, but mom had something else," he replied, fishing the bracelet from his other pocket. "I never got to tell you the story of where this comes from."

"It's Fawkes's."

He grinned at the way Cass defered to his mom as a League head even here. "No, it's yours," he finished, slipping it over her wrist, frustrated the sapphire and turquoise clashed. Maybe he'd have to fix that with Tiffany's. "Mom wants you to have it."

"I..."

He reached up and stroked her hair. "Five hundred years ago, a visitor from Krypton came to live with the Kawatchee."

"I know that's why you're so at home on the res."

"Exactly. He came and fell in love with a human woman named Nala and they had a child together who became one of the great chiefs of the Kawatchee. He brought this all the way from his home on Krypton to give to her and the Kawatchee held it in trust for all those centuries waiting for my father. Bracelets are...were how they married where dad and Aunt Kara were from. It's important to me that you have this too."

"But your mom and dad---"

"Said it was okay. Cass, mom swore it was fine. It already looks fantastic on you, like it was always made for your arm."

"I have to get your mom something awesome for Christmas."

"Well you'll have to pass it on if our first born ever ties the knot."

"We don't have a first born!" 

Kon leaned up and kissed her, "But we'll have fun trying."  
***

February 15, 2078 

Kon and his mom stopped in the middle of the Kawatchee caves and he gulped at the twin glares greeting him. Both Cass and Cassie S. were tall, though one was fair with long gold hair and ice blue eyes and his, no not his anymore, though Cass was dark, a gift from her Latina heritage.

The looks of disdain matched though.

"Kon, we've been waiting twenty minutes," Cassie said and she was frustrated by cordial.

"Superspeed give out?" Cass snapped. "We need to go there, get the blood work, and get the Hell on with our lives. Hopefull my off ramp is here, except if I help Mo babysit as a favor for the family."

Kon's heart clenched. Cass had always thought of herself as part of the Kent family, for as long as he could remember and at least since Mo was born. He understood why she'd be aroud to help his mom or Mo or Lur with babysitting trade offs---as a favor to her surrogate family---but she just couldn't think of him as anything more than a nuissance.

"Girls, we're going to make this as easy as possible. I know this is a stressful situation. Believe me we are all feeling it, but fighting among each other isn't going to help anyone."

Cassie S. nodded. "Mrs. Kent, I'm sorry. Kon, if you could just beam us up Scotty or however it work, I need to know. I haven't slept since you told me."

"Makes us even," he replied. "I haven't slept since I figured it out."

Kon slipped the disc into the slot and felt the disorientation that rattled even him as the world blurred away and the spires and crystals of the Fortress apparated into reality to greet him.

My child, you have come back Lara said, her tone welcoming. 

He was glad it was Lara. If he had to deal with his "grandfather" in a time like this, he'd have gone insane.

"Lara, this is Cass Carpenter and Cassie Sandsmark. They are the candidates, so to speak," his mother yelled. 

He watched as she gestured emphatically, as her sleeve rode up and he could see the Kawatchee bracelet gleaming on her wrist. Out of good conscience, when Cass had broken it off with him, she'd returned the band back to her. It hurt to see it here because Cass hadn't even been back to the Fortress since their engagement. 

Kon barely came himself.

How interesting they are. Very beautiful both of you. Forgive me for being proprietary but you will both be suitable mothers. Kon's child will be lovely. 

Cassie S. blushed. "Is that a compliment?"

Cass sighed. "Lara, the sentiment is flattering but we need to know which one of us is it. Is this a blood test or a scan or how does it work exactly."

A scan only. I've already done it as you've stood here. I'll be asking back for you in 5 Kryptonian cycles. 

"Fuck," Kon cursed.

"Kon, what does that mean?" Cass asked, furrowing her brows. "'Cycles?'"

"It's gonna take a week. We come back here next week and she'll have the results."

"What do we do until then?" Cassie asked. "I'm not exaggerating. I can't sleep. I can't concentrate. I'm useless on Watchtower duty. I can't wait seven days!"

"Lara, there has to be a way to go faster," his mom prodded.

There would be but the genetic make ups are so diverse between Kryptonian, Kryptonite-enhanced, and 'demi-god' as you put it. To parse out the exact geneology of the child will take a week. I'm sorry, Chloe. 

At least his grandmother actually seemed regretful.

"Grandmother, please. I can't wait either!"

Kon-El, as the humans say, 'you have made your bed, now you shall lie in it.' You will wait the week and the three of you will have to deal with the worries and the results of your actions. 

Yeah, and there she sounded about as disappointed as his mother.

Perfect, he was getting it from all ends.

Kon shook his head and pressed the console, the next week was going to suck.

When they reappeared inside the Kawatchee caves, Kon's stomach fell to his feet. Standing there in the costume--tights and all---was his father. 

"Dad?"

"I got home early and the key wasn't in its usual place and no one was home. What have I missed?"

His mother reached out and stroked his father's shoulder. "Karma."

"Huh?" his dad asked.

Cassie Sandsmark fielded it from there. "Connor's pregnant."

"Oh my god. Connor, whose the mom?"

"Me," Connor groused.

"Not funny. I didn't know you were dating and taking Wondergirl and Ice Queen to the Fortress and everyone looks really upset and---" He could see the gears working in his father's head. "My god."

"You said that, Mr. Kent," Cass snarked.

"You don't know do you?"

"Well not for one more week," Kon answered, trying to ignore the disappointment in his father's gaze. "Can we just go home? I think breakfast isn't sitting right anyway."

And only part of that was morning sickness.  
Back to index  
Chapter 10 by Tobywolf13  
August 21, 2039 

Kon had come home for a few days to try and get his abilities under control. He wasn't having much trouble with the TK, but the floating was an absolute mess. All he could think about was Cass, and how she said yes, and then he'd get that warm bubbly feeling in his stomach and find himself two feet off the ground. He'd assume he was walking but instead he'd just be floating all over the place. It had happened twice in the gallery where no one had been around and once at a League meeting so at least exposure hadn't happened. Once his parents noticed his feud with gravity, they'd asked him to come home to practice until he could get himself calmed down.

Right now he was trying to muck out stall with his dad---the only thing on the farm that took normal speed so as not to spook the horses---but he wasn't having much luck. He'd started doing it again and was now taking a break, hovering a few feet above the loft's sofa.

His dad finished the chores and came up looking for him, a smile planted on his face. Kon would call it a smirk, but his dad was too stalwart to be capable of that. Instead he had the goofiest grin on his face. 

"How's it going, buddy?"

Kon narrowed his eyes. "I feel like a balloon."

"Well at least you didn't float away," his dad conceded, sitting down cross legged on the floor and rising a few feet himself in solidarity. At least that was considerate.

"Cute."

"I wanted us to be even. I think I've figured out your problem."

"Really cause I just feel incredibly stupid. I haven't had a powers issue since I was in college." 

Heat vision didn't count. Kon was always going to have to keep his eyes clamped during sex. There was no way to keep the sensation from building up in him. He'd gotten with practice to the place where he no longer scorched things but forcing the heat away was no longer an option for him. It was as much a turn on as the feeling of goosebumps rising on his skin from Cass's power going into over drive.

"It's Cass."

"Huh?"

"It's the fact she said 'yes' and you've been literally walking on air ever since. She's, uh, your happy thought."

Kon arched an eyebrow at his father. "She's my what now?"

"Your happy thought. Look at least you don't need a feather," his dad replied. "When I was first really honing the floating ability, it started because of the pregnancy. I'd been avoiding trying to learn to fly for a long time and hadn't been any good at it even with your aunt teaching me."

"Mom said you didn't actually fly on your own til I was three."

"It didn't come naturally to me. I can't completely explain why. Kara and your mom have always said it was personal hang ups and I think they were probably right. The first time I realized what my trigger for floating was, it was a happy thought."

"So we're lost boys?"

His father's smile widened. "A little bit. Do you remember the picture of your Aunt Kara and me at the lake."

"The one where you're already fat?"

His father sighed. "Yeah that one."

Kon chuckled. "That one's actually hysterical in retrospect. What about it?"

"I must have been four or five months in. I'd been spending so much time in ISIS. I mean five days a week for testing."

"Dad---"

"No it wasn't invasive, per say, it was just away from the sun. I don't think either of us were really getting enough. All of us were together, minus Lana, to decorate the nursery and we took a break to go to the old watering hole. I didn't swim. I wasn't really all that boyant, but I sunbathed. Your mom said I looked like a walrus or a seal like that."

"She would!"

"I was resting there and she had her head on my stomach, listening for you even though she knew she couldn't."

"You two did this while you were still living with the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"Kon, first of all, I know this is going to sound counter-intuitive but don't say that about Lana. Second, boundaries with your mom and I were always so blurred and I never even realized it. I'd want to do things with her and she'd correct me and tell me that it wasn't really a friend-friend thing and I get that more now. I'd be mortified if your Uncle Jimmy or Uncle Ollie did the same thing with me, but with her it always felt right."

Kon smiled. "You were in love with her, even then. Lana saw it. I know she did. It's what pissed her off so much."

His dad nodded. "But I didn't realize it at the time."

"So, not to interrupt, but why am I not supposed to acknowledge that Lana's about as evil as Lex?"

"Because she's your biological mother. I don't regret what happened with Lana and, no matter how much I hate her actions and how much a lot of her wrath scares me, I can never hate her."

"Dad?"

"She gave me you. No matter what else, you wouldn't be you if Lana wasn't part of your make up."

Kon rolled his eyes. "Yeah and my bio-mom proved she's a psycho. I can't wait to go crazy too."

"You won't and I know you. Sometimes you slip, Kon, but you're a good person. You have a whole family and the League watching your back and you've been nothing but amazing for the JLA and the Titans."

"But she's...what she is is a part of me."

"And Grandma Moira's mind couldn't handle being mutated and that scares Mo and your mom. Aunt Kara's father did illegal genetics and mind manipulation experiments and tested them out on her . The AI was fucked up for so long that I grew up thinking Jor-El was a dictator and wanted the same out of me, even though I know now the real one from Krypton was a good person. Dax-Ur made so many mistakes...I can go on. Everyone of us has things in our family that aren't great. We have the chance to go either way---"

"Yeah, but there's a big difference between most of that and running ISIS and committing crimes against humanity, so many you get exiled to Switzerland to stay out of jail. You know that."

"I do, but we all have things that scare us about who we could be. I know it's not true now but you have no idea how scared I was in high school. The AI kept telling me to 'rule with strength' and punishing me and being cruel. I didn't want that. You don't want to be her."

"No, I don't."

"But you can't hate her. Condone her actions, but don't hate her cause it's as bad as hating me when you were a teenager."

"I...okay I was a snot."

"You have to be okay with both parts of yourself. Once Lana had things about her I loved, once, before Lex played with her, she wasn't a horrible person."

"Maybe."

"She had things going for her or I wouldn't have fallen in love with her. It's important to me that as screwed up as everything was, as much as we both know now Lana can't love anyone now, that you came from love. I loved her at the time---or at least I believed with all I had I did---and even if you weren't planned, you were wanted."

"I know that now. So you were saying about you and my cool mom."

His dad smiled and bobbed a little. "Chloe and I will never get tired of hearing you say it like that."

"I probably need to say it a billion times more."

"Maybe, but I was just so relaxed, laying there in the sun, stroking her hair and joking with her, that I floated. I, uh, couldn't get down for a few hours and later on in the pregnancy it just sort of happened cause of all the hormones."

"Like with Mo."

"Right, but for the most part, it was definitely how I felt about your mom. Your powers are going wonky cause they're so tied to our emotions. All you can think about is Cass and that you're engaged."

"God it sounds good to say it outloud."

His father nodded. "You're so happy. You mother and Mo and I are all happy for you. I can't remember when I've seen you smile as broadly."

"Or float like a butterfly?"

"Or that. We're so proud of you, buddy. Remember that."  
***

February 15, 2078 

"I am so disappointed in you, Connor. How could you do this?" 

They were in the loft while his mom was distracting (or at least trying to) Cass and Cassie. His dad hadn't even bothered to change out of uniform and there was something goofy about Superman and that damn cape fluttering around in the dusty old loft. As if that side of his father didn't really belong in something so homespun and old.

Also, it was harder to take your dad seriously in tights.

"Dad, look mom and I---"

His dad stopped pacing and glared at him. Kon gulped at the red tint to his eyes. His father was pissed. "I am sure your mother had a lot of choice things to say. I can't imagine she wouldn't. But I have to say I'm incredibly dissapointed too. I thought we raised you better than to sleep around."

"You don't have to be holier than thou on it! I wasn't exactly bar hopping and some of this really is Anna Fortune and her stupid champagne's fault!"

"That may be the case, but you still made choices and now you've made the wrong one."

"Because I got knocked up out of wedlock? Or because I have an accidental kid? Maybe it's cause if the mom's Cass, she and I are fighting with each other like crazy right now? This all sounds familiar," Kon bit back.

"You in a snit is the last thing I want to hear right now," his father reminded, doing that stupid voice he did in uniform, the commanding one. "Don't you compare this to me and Lana."

"Why? It's exactly what happened except Cass and I had a weak moment of nostalgia together. Grandma told me once that Lana blackmailed you emotionally and you were trying to fix your relationship with sex instead of real talking."

"The mom was wrong to admit that."

"You said it was about love and maybe the sex was great, but a lot of where I came from was about fear too."

His father closed his eyes and was quiet for a long time. When he did speak, he opened his eyes again and looked to the loft window. "I wanted to have what humans have, Kon. You know how hard it is to...you and Cass fit in a way that you wouldn't with a human girl and you know that. It was so hard to get over being scared, to be like everyone else, but I never lied to you. Maybe I was young and naive, maybe I was in love with the idea of her or the idea of being in love, I don't know, but you come from so much love. You can't confuse being a surprise with not being wanted at all."

"I haven't in a long time," Kon lied, bringing his hand to his stomach without even realizing it. 

"You do sometimes. You know, no matter who the mother is, even if you have to raise the baby mostly on your own except for weekend mom help or trading off on holidays, your child will get that they were wanted."

"But they're an accident."

"Did you want to get rid of them? Would you do it now? I know that you probably could when I couldn't, that you're human enough for that."

"No," he replied quietly, tightening his grip, "That's the last thing I'd want."

"I panicked at first with you. I admit that, I do, but the thought of hurting you once I could hear your heartbeat...I loved you so much so fast it was scary. You were not what I expected in my life then, but you were what I needed."

"You needed to be twenty, pregnant, and with barely any income?"

"I needed to grow up," his dad replied, turning to look at him. "I wasn't who I could have been. I wasn't mature or responsible in the way I should have been. I was hiding on the farm, playing house, letting the world pass me by. I suddenly had to start thinking about another life and from there, it all just grew."

"So I made you The Ghost?" Kon asked, referring to his father's identity before he and his aunt had come out publicly after Mo's birth as Superman and Supergirl.

"You made me want to be him, made me want to do more for the world. Again, how can I ever regret that. A surprise is a good thing, even if it's unexpected."

"They're going to be so mad at me in about fifteen or sixteen years. I fucked up. I promised I'd never do this. I always thought...Cass and I tried for so long and maybe some of the problems were hers and some were mine because after that hit I took in college, I was probably never quite right and didn't even realize it."

"Denial's a powerful thing."

"We tried for so long. Normal people, mortal people, would have given up after twenty years of that. Then she...I don't even know how she managed to get pregnant, but I always thought it'd be perfect. It'd be me and Cass and everything with a white picket fence and a minivan and matching gold bands."

"I know you did."

"Now I honestly don't know how I got pregnant without even trying when two decades could barely do it for either of us. I don't know if I'll be trying to co-parent with Cassie Sandsmark and raising a literal god. I don't know."

"It could be Murphy's law or, as your mother puts it, Karma. I honestly don't know. Lara might be able to tell us."

"Grandmother may at that," he conceded. "I'm so scared the baby's not Cass's and I'm so scared it is. She hates me!"

"She has so much reason to, buddy. Regardless of who the mother is, I've seen this rift with Cass killing you for fifteen years. I know it's killing you. You can ignore it for a hundred years or five hundred, but it's eating you alive. You have to make amends."

"I don't know how. All I want is her back, what we had back. I doubt me raising Wondergirl's son or daughter would endear me to her much."

"And if the baby's hers?"

Kon laughed bitterly. "You of all people know that baby's don't make an instant relationship."

His father considered that. "No, but you only think about me and Lana when you think of yourself. We were broken because Lana was already incapable of real love, already given in to everything dark impulse she ever had."

"I know, believe me."

"But having you didn't break us. It did bring your mother and me together finally."

"What?"

"You were the goal, the catalyst we needed to be honest with each other. Whatever happens with the little one, it's not going to be magic, Kon, and it's not going to be easy. If it's Cassie's, we'll all deal and answer to Zeus of all people."

"I know!"

"But if it's Cass's, you'd be surprised what having something in common, what loving someone that much mutually can do for honesty in a relationship."

"But you're wrong. I did break her. Lana might have gone all evil on everyone, but I broke cass on every level I could have. I was selfish and stupid and an asshole like Lana would have been and I broke Cass apart."

"You're not like Lana, not exactly. Why would you even say that?"

"Cause Cass said it to my face not very long ago. She said I can't love.:

"You know that's crap."

"You don't do what I did to someone you love."

"And sometimes you make mistakes. Kon, what you did was wrong, but you have nine hundred years to think about how to make it up to her and you know you want to. If the baby's hers, then you're going to have to, if only to be civil enough to each other for the baby's sake."

"I don't know how!"

"Then, buddy, you're going to have to ask her what it'll take because having lost her like you did? It's killing you."  
Back to index  
Chapter 11 by Tobywolf13  
December 25, 2040 

Cass looked fabulous in lace.

And in little else.

She'd gotten something for Connor for his birthday/Christmas that he'd been thinking about all day anyway. The lingerie she wore---red naturally---played nicely against her warm toned skin and the garters made his eyes itch like crazy. Somehow, though, the site of the bracelet on her wrist was what kept him fighting the hardest to regain his composure and his self control. 

She grinned. "Having trouble, Connor Sullivan?"

He blinked as she slid into the bed in his loft in New York. "No, just allergies."

She giggled, knowing full well that Alura was the only one of them who had any. "Allergies to a neglige? Am I going to need to call the fire department?" she teased, nibbling on his ear and he felt a flare of heat more intense than anything he'd experienced since he was a teenager.

Damn it, he really liked his ceiling.

He was going to have to start thinking unsexy thoughts like stuff about his parents if she didn't quit. 

"Cass, I don't want to burn the place down."

She smirked and kissed him. "I'd put it out. I'm glad you like your present. Mo said red would work."

He nodded. "Always does. It's a good color!"

"If you're a Kent, it might be the only color."

"It's a great color," he clarified. "I'm making a rule you can only wear that. Hell, you can only wear this."

Cass laughed. "I think your mom wouldn't appreciate this at League meetings."

"Yeah, but if you started saving the world in this, bad guys everywhere would be distracted."

"I don't go in for the more revealing stuff," she snorted. "I mean your mom's smart to wear Kevlar for a reason and she's freaking immortal."

Kon sighed and rolled over onto his side, combing his hand through her hair. "Mom's not that exactly, and body armor? Not sexy. What Diana wears? Definitely distracts bad guys."

"So not me," besides, she said, kissing his neck and going lower down his throat. "This? This is only for you."

"Point," he said, moaning a little and he'd never really like that lamp anyway. It was okay it was scorched.

Cass grinned. "I really do have you worked up. Points to Mo for her shopping prowess."

"This is so not the time to bring up my little sister," he said as she spooned up against him. "Uh, we don't have to stop."

"One second, cuddles are good for me and then stuff for both of us, promise."

"Okay, I'll bite. What's your angle? Is it cake worries? You know everyone loves chocolate and we made sure to have enough Tobasco on hand for my, uh, more colorful family."

"Kryptonians have no taste, I swear."

"Have you tried it?"

"No taste," she countered, not really answering. "I'm shocked you think that I have ulterior motives!"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I might want to go over the seating just one more time. See, I think that having Bruce near, um, anybody, might be difficult."

"We can't keep him in a corner."

"Yeah but maybe near your Aunt Lois isn't the best idea?"

He sighed and kissed her. "The wedding's in six days and it's going to be perfect, alright? You've planned out everything in creepy, obsessive, Cassian details."

"Well, you only get to do this once! We better do this just once."

"I'm not planning on getting divorced, are you?"

"No, but again I want this to be special. I want it to be amazing."

"Because?"

"Because I love you and I get to be a princess for a day."

"You're not that type."

"I have a dress from Paris, of course I'm that type."

Kon blushed a little. He might have actually opened his bank account a bit. His dad had given him a speech in that Superman voice about responsible spending, but, really, Kon technically had access to billions. A couple million just this once wasn't so bad.

He never expected Cass to get so excited about everything girlie, but she had and he'd wanted to make it beautiful just for her, not that she was that type, but just cause he could.

He kissed her again and stroked her hip. "It's going to be just fine. Now, it's time to unwrap my present..."  
***

January 1, 2040 

Cass was sniffling a little. It didn't match with the navy body armor she wore or the cape flaring behind her. They were sitting in the middle of the reception hall (he could rent it out from now until the next Apocalypse if he wanted). He sighed and handed her a slice of what was left of their cake. The mortal guests---the non League members---who'd been left confused when about a third of the party had gotten up to go only ten minutes into the ceremony, had at least enjoyed the champagne and the cake.

Even if there'd been no ceremony.

Some annoying plot with the Legion of Doom in New York had required all the League to stop it. Idly, Kon wondered if his uncle and bio-mom had timed it that way; he figured that they had.

Petty assholes.

"See it's still good!"

"It's a little dry," she said. "No one even got to see my dress but Alura, Mo, and Cassie!"

"Well I'm sure the bridesmaids liked it," he conceded, kissing her forehead. "I'm sure you were lovely. Do you want to wear it for me?"

She started crying more, and he blurred in order to grab her a box of tissues. "I can't! I need to reuse it and you can't see the dress before the wedding!"

"We're gonna have more bad luck?"

"You know what I mean. It's a superstition and my abuela always said---"

"I get it. I won't violate tradition. I promise. We can always try again. I mean scale back, maybe do something more low key my uncle and bio-mom won't ruin out of spite. Maybe even elope."

She burst out crying again. "I can't run to Vegas."

"I didn't say Vegas. Mom and dad did this undercover assignment once in Niagra. I hear that's nice."

"I want daddy to be there and Jason. Oh Hell, even Mindy can come. I don't want it to be just us or a justice of the peace. I want it to be special!"

He nodded and stroked the bracelet gleaming on her wrist. "You want to do something nice for your family."

"They're mortal, Connor. Dad's in his sixties now. I don't have much time with them. I mean, even if Jason's younger, you know how fast time goes. I want to have a good memory with them. I want to have pictures and remember something nice from when they were here and when they were young. We're gonna be like this for a very long time and I just want something I can remember."

"Well, it was memorable," he countered, kissing her. "Next time. We'll regroup, do something smaller and not invite as much of the League as we did. I mean still have my 'sisters' and Cassie, Jax and some others. We just need something not as flashy is all. Something Page Six won't go on and on about. I promise, I'll make this work."  
***

April 5, 2045 

Cass's dress did not look good soot stained.

"Kon?"

"Yes, honey?" he said, undoing his tux. 

At least this time he'd actually gotten down the aisle. In four wedding attempts, this was the closest he'd actually gotten to an "I do." He didn't look much better than Cassie, to be honest. His uncle and bio-mom, a death ray, and massive chaos had ended this wedding too.

"Is it morally wrong to kill Lana?"

"Well yes, in the abstract, that's against League policy."

"But if I wanted to get a big ass baseball bat and just go over to LuthorCorp, is it really wrong?"

"I don't think Uncle Bruce or my dad would approve."

"Yeah, okay, but is it really that wrong? I've spent five years planning and trying to get this done. I'm just rabidly pissed off."

He could feel the temperature in the church go sub zero. "Ah Cass?"

"I mean, the world would be better without the Luthors in it."

"You can't actually kill my bio-mom over torn up gardenias and a shredded dress."

"I can fantasize about it," she corrected. "This is fucking ridiculous. How do they even know?"

"Lex knows everything. I never got it either, but this is just...Cass if we don't just do a Justice of the Peace thing, this is never going to happen. It has to be totally spontaneous and unpredictable, just us and maybe a witness or two, someone on the roster with superspeed."

Cass sighed. "I don't want to do that."

"Huh?"

She held out her arm to him. "This already means we're married. Mo and Alura explained it to me. Everyone in the League knows what it means. I explained it to my dad even and he gets it."  
Kon shook his head. He and Cass had sat down and explained to her father the day after he proposed that he wasn't just a meta. Her dad, pardon the pun, had been cool about it.

"But it's not legal, not the way humans do it."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't have an identity crisis pout."

"I'm not! I'm just saying that if you give up on having a human style wedding, it won't be on the records. I mean we'd just be officially engaged forever. I just...I know how annoying that was for my parents when they explained it to me."

"There's not another woman in the picture."

"I know, but," he asked, touching her left wrist. "Is that enough for you."

She nodded and kissed him. "If it worked for your people for thousands of years, it works for me. Everyone who matters knows. If I'm not legally Cassandra Kent on a marriage certificate from Kansas, that's okay, you know? Besides, 'fiance' makes me sound cooler and hip, more than a stuffy old 'ball and chain.'"

"You could never be that," he said, hugging her. "Arlight, Cassandra El ," he said, winking. "If this is what you want, I live to make you happy."

"Good, cause I think I'm even starting to burn a hole through your budget!"  
***

February 20, 2078 - 3 am 

Kon wasn't sure what was worse. The fact he was leaning over a toiler at ass early in the morning, the fact that he could hear his parents being really happy to be back together (ugh), or the fact that on the other side of the farm house Cassie S. and Cass were in separate guest rooms hating his guts.

His stomach clenched and he vomitted again, resting his head on the porcelain of the toilet when he was through. Maybe tacos hadn't been a good idea last night or for the next six weeks or so. 

Then his mom moaned---and why couldn't he ever make his hearing not suck---and Kon decided that his parents being reunited for frisky time was the worst thing ever.

"Kon?"

He blinked up and gaped. Cass was standing right there, a glass of water and a cold compress with her. "I woke you up?"

"I was never asleep. I heard you stumbling around and I figured there was only one place you'd be."

"I thought you were mad at me," he said, taking the offered water and taking a few sips. He was sure the icey coldness had more to do with her than the refrigerator.

She knelt down next to him and put the compress on his neck. "I am."

"I don't understand."

"If the baby is mine, I need to do this to help make this as easy for you as possible, to keep the baby healthy. I have a chance I never thought I had, at least for this week, to have a child, not after..."

"But it could be Wondergirl's."

"We're gonna get through this, Cassie and I, and then still be friends. I haven't talked to her in weeks but we can reconcile. I know this wasn't her fault or yours with the New Year's fiasco. Anna drugged you both."

"Yeah, but we chose to get hammered even if we knew we felt weird."

"But magic's cheating really."

"Then I'm super confused," he said, leaning back against the compress.

"I'm mad at me for being weak and for taking you back, even for a night. I know better. I know not to trust you now."

"Cass---"

"Kon, don't talk, just let me do this like a nurse would. I'm not gonna spite a fetus over our bullshit, so just let me help you until you feel better."

"So this is clinical?"

"What else would it be?"  
Back to index  
Chapter 12 by Tobywolf13  
April 6, 2045 

Cass was at home in Smallville. Planning repeated weddings had helped her mend some of the animosity in her relationship with her stepmother. While he could tell Cass still missed her mom terribly, there was a healing power in picking out bridesmaids' dresses and wedding invitations with Mindy. Maybe it was activated by some girl-bonding genes, or maybe it was just the realization that time was short for family. Kon wasn't sure but he was glad she had managed to bury the hatchet with Mindy. It wasn't worth hated on a surrogate mother, he'd learned that the hard way. People who came in and chose to be your family? They were worth holding onto.

The church was clean. 

Wally and Bart had done that for him, along with his Uncle J'onn and Aunt Diana. 

He'd have done it himself in superspeed, but apparently no one in the League wanted to put him through that. The word had spread fast that there wouldn't be a fifth try or another try ever. He figured Mo had shot her mouth off as she had a tendency to do.

Sighing, he leaned back at his desk and tried to sketch. Sometimes it released his tension. Even the drawings he'd done in high school after he'd learned his origins, as grotesque as they could be, they relieved his tension. When he sat down in his home, trying to let out what he felt over the last few years, all the hopes he'd pinned on something, all he could do was sit and sketch Cass.

Cass in a long veil and a beautiful slinky white dress.

She made a beautiful bride, even if her dress was having holes worn in it from use.

Again, he'd offered to get her a new one, but she wanted to get use out of the one she'd fallen in love with, finish what they'd started so long before. The sight of her at the altar, covered in soot and grime? God it made him want to fly to Switzerland and strangle Lana Luthor himself. How could...he didn't even want to know how someone could be just a DNA donor and not only not care about their kid but actively life ruin too.

Psychopath.

Kon sighed again and started on a new sketch. He sat on his hands and concentrated. He was trying a technique with using his TK, in the model of how Maddie molded her glassware with her powers. He wasn't terribly good at it, but he had time to practice. He was starting simple, just sketching the basic outlines of a cartoonish rabbit, one a little lopsided.

It took concentration and kept him distracted.

Apparently enough not to notice when someone snuck into his loft.

"I think your rabbit's a little fat."

The shock made him break concentration and his charcoal pencil fell, staining his rabbit. 

"Cassie! What are you doing here?"

Cassie was his Cass's best friend and had been since about the day the blonde had joined the Teen Titans. While Mo had lobbied hard to be the maid of honor, after much deliberation, Cass had gone with Cassie Sandsmark instead.

"You looked like someone shot your dog at the wedding that wasn't, especially after Mo took Cass home to Smallville. I...uh, heard she doesn't want to try again."

"Four times is ridiculous. If she can't do it the fairy tale way with her extended family, she doesn't see the point. She's very big on making memories lately. I dunno why she's spooked about immortality all of a sudden. We're thirty five, not eighty five."

"Not that any of the three of us would look different," Cassie riposted. "So, seriously, your bunny looks bloated."

"I'm learning to do this telekinetically. It takes practice."

"Thumper's still a lard ball," she said, grinning.

"You really know how to make someone feel better, Cassie."

"You," she said, passing him a manilla envelope. "Really need to learn how to worship me."

He frowned and opened the package. Inside were a collection of photos and he was tickled a little that she'd bothered to print them out old school style. Picking one up, he smiled. It was from five years ago, of Cass, his sister, and Alura in her dressing room at St. Patrick's in Metropolis. He could tell, even if not for the date stamp on the bottom, because of Cass's hair. She'd cut it short since the first wedding attempt and been keeping it at her shoulders ever since. He missed the long waves, but she insisted it made patrol easier.

He hoped one day she'd grow it back out.

Continuing, he noticed that the venue changed and for this last wedding the dresses were cobalt for the bridesmaids and not crimson, and it was in the smaller chapel they'd picked, the one in Granville. The quaint one that only held a hundred guests.

Every time, the dress looked a little more worn, but his Cass looked as splendid as always.

"Did you take these?"

Cassie nodded, pushing a long strand of hair back behind her ear when it slid out of place. "Every time when we were dressing. The first time, I just thought it'd be funny to take pics of the girls helping her into the dress. Then after the wedding didn't happen, I thought I'd take them every time, just in case."

"Yeah, thank you. They're beautiful. It's not like we ever got to the stage where Uncle Jimmy could take pics of the wedding party. I'm glad we have these."

"How are you doing?"

"Good moments and bad," he replied, placing the envelop on his desk. "Cass has given up and I want to marry her so bad. I want to see my ring on her finger almost as much as the bracelet on her wrist."

"You all could---"

"She wants it perfect or not at all and, she does have a point, we're technically married and everyone who matters knows we're joined."

"Yeah, but if it matters to you, maybe that Niagra idea that Mo said you were considering wouldn't be so bad?"

"Maybe we'll try for it later. It's been five years of crushing disappointment for her."

"For you too."

"Yeah, I know. We'll get to it. We have tons of time, you know?"

"Totally."

"Cassie?"

"Yes?"

"Why would Lana keep doing this to me?"

"Cause she's nuts, no offense."

"None taken," he replied, sighing. "But I mean that you know what it's like to have a weird relationship with your bio-parent."

"Dad doesn't ruin my shit, technically."

"Yeah but think of Lex being pissy with me for that whole loss of his company, which was so Grandpa Lionel's idea anyway, a lot like Hera not really wanting you around."

"True, but Lana Luthor? I'll never figure her out."

"Me neither. It's like she doesn't want me---God knows I'm done wanting her---but no one else can have me either. I mean not in an Oedipus way but in a spiting mom and Cass anyway she can. I hate it. Just once, I wanted to have something be perfect."

She nodded and patted his shoulder. "Not in our cards. Some day, Kon, I'm sure you'll have an amazing wedding and we'll be there to be in the party when it happens."  
***

February 20, 2078 

"You don't look so great," Cassie S. noted as he slumped down at the kitchen table. 

The smells assaulting him sucked---the bacon Cassie was frying, ripe with grease, the eggs poaching in the microwave, and the fucking bananas.

He hated bananas lately, every thing smelled like them in his house. Even in his apartment, he could smell it and it annoyed him that he couldn't exactly as his next door neighbors to change their diet during his first trimester.

Could his parents stop it for at least a while?

"I think I'm dying."

"Oh, do you want some bacon? I bet protein is good for the baby."

"Wondergirl, I don't think that much fat's good for him. It's meat but it's not exactly for a sick stomach," Cass suggested as she came down the stairs. She was in a fluffy bathrobe, monkey slippers and flannel pjs.

She'd rarely turned him on more.

God, he was pathetic.

"Cass, hey, about last night---"

Cassie S. arched an eyebrow at both of them as she took the frying pan off the burner. "Did I miss something?"

Cass rolled her eyes indulgently at her but glared at him. "There's not much to tell. You weren't feeling well. I helped take care of you cause it's the decent thing to do, and this morning one of us will get you some oatmeal since I'm hoping you can keep it down, okay?"

"Oh, so it wasn't?" Cassie asked, fumbling for the right euphemism.

"No," Cass huffed, grabbing some instant oatmeal packets and a ceramic bowl for him. "He was just sick. If we go out every day for people we don't even know, I can show Kon some decency and an unborn baby."

"Gee, glad I'm just another name on a roster of Ice Queen's saves of the day," Kon snarked, placing his head on the table. He was going to buy out Chiquita and then end it. No more bananas ever.

"Do you want that damn food or not?" she snapped, pouring in the water and shoving it in the mircowave. "Oh wait? Do you want to heat vision this instead?"

"Ugh, headache. I couldn't heat vision a S'more."

Cass nodded, somewhat mollified. "Okay, I wasn't sure. You're not...you didn't used to like microwaves. You always said nuked tasted like crap."

"Which begs the question on if heat vision tastes better," Cassie chirped fixing her plate and all that grease and running yolks made him cough a little.

"Cassie?"

"Yup?"

"Can you maybe eat at the island? If that bacon gets any closer to me, I'm gonna Ralph."

"Point taken," she said, pulling up a stool. 

The microwave dinged and Cass pulled out his bowl, added a small dribble of whole milk, and brought it over to the table for him, spoon included. "I'm not a catering service, but I know you had a really rough night last night," she said, setting the bowl in front of him. "I can get you some water too. Eating even a little would help settle your stomach."

He felt it then, the change in temperature, the goosebumps rising on his neck from where Cass had started to but hesitated to stroke his neck.

"Cass---"

"One water, right up," she said, rushing to the sink in speeds that would have made Mo proud. 

Cassie shook her head and kept chewing. "Yeah, this isn't awkward at all. Are you sure it takes seven days?"

Cass gulped and concentrated on the water glass like it was the most important thing in the world. She realized how close she'd come to touching him too. 

"Six days now," he said. "See that waiting thing is coming right along." Stirring his oatmeal, he just managed to keep himself from smiling as Cass sat down across from him with a yogurt and passed him his water. "Thanks."

"Drink. You'll also feel better hydrated."

"Thanks mom," he snarked, before blushing. Someone in this room was a mother after all.

Cass paled. "No problem."

No one said anything more for twenty minutes until his mom and dad came down the stairs. His dad was not quite on the ground, floating maybe five inches above the ground and his mom was doing that rose-glow thing all over her face and arms. So much wrong in that.

Cassie looked up from her heart attack on a plate and grinned at his parents and then a little at him and Cass before sobering. Neither he nor Cass C. were in the mood for sly winks or innuendo.

"You look, um, well-rested, Mrs. Kent," Cassie said, washing her plate off in the sink.

His mom blushed and her cheeks flared almost gold. "Sleep's very important."

"I am not hearing this. I am not hearing this!" Kon chanted.

His dad, finally realizing he wasn't actually walking, landed and started fixing his own breakfast. "Definitely, one of those things you need most. Right Chlo?"

"Yup."

Were they giggling? Oh Christ they were giggling.

That settled it. He was gonna ask Jax to design him ear plugs. Great, industrial strength ear plugs. He was too old for this.

His dad coughed and tried drinking out of the milk bottle. 

Both Cass and his mom glared at him and said in unison, "No. Use a glass!"

"Wow, you both have that mom thing down," Cassie commented. "I don't have one mom gene in my entire body."

His dad frowned and poured himself milk instead. "I don't think it takes a 'mom' gene."

Kon had to smile just a little, "It's probably good it didn't. I mean maybe it just takes a kangaroo one."

His mother's glow dimmed a little. "Stretch. Marks. Enjoy them, Connor Sullivan. You earned them."

"Mom!"

His dad did that Superman voice thing, in order to get order back into the room. "Everyone we need not to snap at each other. This is already a tense situation."

"You think?" Cass snarked.

"It is tense," his dad continued, maintaining his calm. "We have six days to try and wait for everything. Stress isn't good for a pregnancy let alone a special one. We just need to try and get through this. I don't want to condone snapping at each other, but if after the 26th, you want to go back to a Cold War stalemate, then I can't change that. But right now, I expect all three of you to behave like the JLA members you are."

"And this is why he's in charge," Cassie muttered.

"Actually, I am often," his mom countered, her glow ebbing. "Cassie, I think what Mr. Kent means is that it's not some natural skill. I mean, my mom left when I was still pretty young, and I think I've learned a thing or two about mothering over the last sixty plus years."

"Definitely," his dad said, kissing the top of his mom's head. "Whichever one of you is the mom, you'll learn just like Kon's about to."

"And make a lot of mistakes too," his mom conceded.

"Joy," Kon said, looking over at Cass. "I feel like I've made a million already."  
Back to index  
Chapter 13 by Tobywolf13  
March 8, 2063 

He was beautiful.

Kon had known this since six or seven weeks in. That even if their baby was an inch long and barely had eyes, it was the most beautiful baby on any planet. He'd developed quite the addiction to staring at him. Carter Kent (nee Kar-El, which yeah, sounded a little funny) was five months along and now even Cass could see him with the help of modern technology. She could smile when his arms fluttered and laugh when he turned away from the wand and showed them and the doctor.

He loved when she laughed.

"Ice Queen, Phoenix---" Allison Thomkins started. 

She was the daughter of Bruce's personal physician and had become a doctor herself, always on call for League matters. Her discretion was superb. Even if the Fortress would take care of the delivery and be on hand for complications, they still covered all their bases and went to a more conventional doctor at Watchtower. 

Cass laughed again and sat up, making sure to wipe the gel off her growing stomach. "Cass is fine. You really don't have to do codenames with us, Dr. Thomkins. We've been here so long that even the new recruits know our real names. We're sort of the Watchtower fixture along with Diana, J'onn and the rest of the Kents."

Dr. Thomkins nodded. "I know. It's just League protocol insists that I stay professional."

"Well by all means. We don't want to incur a lecture from Diana and Terry," Kon agreed. "So what's the verdict on the little bundle of meta-Kryptonian joy?"

"He seems to be developing very well, a little faster than I thought."

"Uh, my dad went to about eight months with Mo and me. We have shorter gestations," he offered, helping his fiance off the table and back to a chair. "Is that bad?"

"Did it affect Flamebird?"

Cass shook her head. "It didn't affect Mo the way that her mom running on meteor rocks and her dad being super allergic to them did. Why?"

"Nothing. As far as I can tell, given the precedents of this type of pregnancy, you're developing fine. I'd be a little more relaxed if you were like The Eradicator and Supergirl---"

"Well Jax and Alura have all the luck of being exactly the same," Kon replied. "It'll help when they're finally ready, but we're good right? I mean we'll be back in two weeks and Cass knows no patrolling, no heavy lifting, no using her powers if she can avoid it."

"Yes, dad," Cass replied, rolling her eyes indulgently and kissing him on the cheek. "As long as Carter's fine, then it'll be worth doing nothing exciting for the next three months?"

Kon laughed and hugged her. "So carrying an alien superbaby who's already given you superstrength for the duration of your pregnancy isn't exciting?"

"Meh, it's still not stopping Lex or the Legion of Doom. A girl's gotta have standards."  
**

March 28, 2063 

There was so much blood.

Kon woke up before Cass did, the smell assaulting his sensitive nose. Even if he weren't as he was, he'd have known. There was too much of it. Panicked, he shook her awake. "Cass?"

She blinked up at him and frowned. "Kon, ow, oh ow. I...my back feels like it's in a vice."

"You're bleeding."

"Get your mom."

"Cass---"

"Now, Kon, just do it."  
**

April 4, 2063 

Everyone said their sorries to them at the service. Maybe it wasn't customary to do that for a baby who'd been still born at six months but Carter had been so close to viable, so God awfully close. It seemed wrong to do anything less than to inter him next to his Grandma Martha and Granpa Jonathan in the Smallville Memorial Park.

Kon didn't even want to know why some places specialized in wreaths that tiny or in colors like a baby blanket.

It didn't snow that day but it was cold, at least for the humans who'd come. Kon couldn't feel it and he knew Cass couldn't either. There was something else, a deeper chill seeping through bother of them, the feeling that everything was over, broken into a million pieces, never to be put right again.

Even after his mom left, her eyes filled with tears for her failure, they stayed. They stayed for an hour after the service, holding each other. By the time they left, the ground had already started to frost over for the night and the sun had set.

His mom and Mo could save anybody, why now did they have a limit?

Was it a joke?

To give them the thing they wanted most and yank it away?

Was it all a game by some bored deity with a twisted sense of humor.

They'd waited and tried and prayed three years for this, and now it would remain nothing but a dream.

Ashes to ashes...  
***

February 20, 2078 

"Kon?" his mom asked, studying him closely. "Hey, I have some extra blankets and things in the loft that the girls might like fro tonight. It's supposed to snow and extra flannel is always welcome."

He shook his head looking up from where he realized he'd been watching Cass feign interest in television for too long. "Oh, yeah. I can do that."

"Mrs. Kent, you know I can help," Cass suggested. "I...Kon's in a delicate condition."

Cassie snorted a little from her place on the sofa. "He's six weeks, not waddling. He might need a little bit of a walk. Don't worry so much, Ice Queen."

He noticed his mom look toward Cass, arching her eyebrows subtlely and Cass's nod back. His girls---no not both his, not now---had always been so good at talking to each other without words. What a fearsome disciplinarian team they'd make if the baby were Cass's.

Dear Christ let the baby be Cass's.

" A stor , come on. Cass, thank you for the offer but finish the movie," his mom said, leading him to the loft.

He sighed and sat down on the steps, wondering what it'd be like when he was four months or even eight, when it was hard to move or walk or get comfortable, when he looked like a kangaroo just as his dad had with him or with Mo. "That was wonderfully sly, mom."

She shrugged and leaned against the tractor. "You've been really quiet today."

"What am I supposed to say? Cassie and Cass seem to be working out some peace because Cass mainly wants to murder Anna Fortune for spiking the champagne at New Year's in the first place."

"I see."

"I mean, I get it doesn't become magically fixed overnight, but Cass has made it quite clear she's angry at me and not at Wondergirl."

"That hardly seems fair."

He shook his head. "Not for having sex with Cassie. Cass knows that we hadn't been seeing each other for well over a decade. Hell, we aren't seeing each other now. She's just mad she and I ever...that we fell back into ourselves for one night."

"Then, a stor , she's really mad at herself. Don't misunderstand, what you did---"

He nodded and swiped at his eyes. Fuck it, he'd claim allergies if she asked even if it was a lie. "I know. It's all I've thought about all day. We were so happy, mom, we were so close to what we always wanted."

"Then maybe this is a second chance. Cassie S.'s or Cass's child, you know Cass is going to want to help because she feels like this is her family, especially as Jason gets older. She'd be here either way."

"Yeah but with glaring daggers at me!"

"You know, as polite as Cassie Sandsmark is, as understanding as she's been in this most awkward of circumstances, she hasn't taken me or your father aside to ask about your health."

"So?"

"Cass has asked each of us separately and demanded a run down of what the Fortress has diagnosed. Think about that. Things might not be as broken as you believe."  
Back to index  
Chapter 14 by Tobywolf13  
Smallville, Kansas - February 18, 2035 

"Kon! Am I pretty?" Mo asked, blurring down the stairs of the old farmhouse. Kon frowned. Mo was eleven and here she was in lip gloss, blush and did she have glitter on her cheeks? She should be in pigtails still, shouldn't she?

"Mo, that's a lot of make up."

"No it's not. I didn't even get to have eyeliner. Cass said no!"

"So Cass is upstairs helping you? Did you ask mom before you borrowed her things?"

"Mom doesn't have glitter make-up, duh. Cass said she had this when she was my age and it's great it's sparkly and it's blue!"

"Just because it's the right color," he said, wiping it off her cheeks. "Doesn't mean you should wear it."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll be twelve in a month."

"I know."

"I'm not a nun."

"I don't want to know what that means."

"I have a boyfriend even. Scott Malcom. He's in seventh grade."

"You have a what?"

She nodded. "He eats lunch with me every day and has for two months. Besides, dad sometimes drives us to the movies on Saturday afternoon because I can't speed him anywhere."

"Obviously. So you have a boyfriend."

"Duh."

"You have a boyfriend and you didn't tell me?"

"You're so mean about it! You don't even want me to look at boys."

Kon closed his eyes and took a breath. How dad was okay with an eleven year old dating, he'd never know. "Well not until you're eighteen."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a ho."

"I didn't...wait are you jumping tracks here?"

"No. Sally Jenkins in eighth grade? She, uh, had to go away for a while and when she got back, she had a new 'baby brother.'"

"I don't like the air quotes there."

"I was being polite. She was big as a house and two months later she's got a new brother and everyone knows her mom wasn't pregnant. Mom and dad had a big lecture with me about how we don't do that."

"Right good, that. Think of that . Do you want a crying, whining, crying---"

"You said that already."

"Crying! Poop factory waking you up at 2 a.m.? Of course you don't!"

"You make it sound so bad."

"Well you were a screamer. You had colic."

"Oh, but I'm eleven and not terminally retarded. I'm not having sex and if I did like in high school---if---I'm not so stupid I wouldn't use a condom and the pill."

"You know about sex?"

"Hello! They told us about it in separate assemblies for the boys and girls in fourth grade. Sex gives normal people lots of diseases that basically look supergross."

"Just cause we don't get sick---"

"I know, like I said, not retarded, and going to see a movie with Scott and a few of out friends at two in the afternoon? Not exactly wild monkey sex."

"Please don't say the word sex out loud ever again."

"SEXXXXXXX!" she said, just to be contrary. "I'm not a little kid, Connor Sullivan."

"You're my little sister and you're eleven!"

"I'll be twelve soon. Besides, daddy was the one who got pregnant with you and me. If anyone should be careful it should be you. You can be a weeble if you and Cass aren't---"

"I am not not not discussing what Cass and I do with you ever."

"See there's this book that Cindi Allen says is called the Karma Sutter or something and they show you all the positions. I checked the Metropolis public library even but they don't have it."

"I am telling mom. You can not speed to the city to read porn."

"It's educational, but, see I bet there's all sorts of new positions you can try if you float and--"

"Cass! Get down here now!"

His girlfriend was laughing so hard that she could barely stand upright coming down the stairs. "Come on, Kon, she's at that age. It's not like she doesn't have MTV and the internet and a genius IQ. She wasn't gonna stay a little kid forever."

"She's suggesting we try floating sex."

"Oh, um, Mo," Cass said, blushing. "Maybe you shouldn't listen to Cindi as much, but I am on her side. A little glitter and some lip gloss never hurt anyone. It's not like she looks like a parrot exploded on her face or something."

"But she's my little sister."

"She's growing up," Cass countered. "Mostly. Mo," she said, reapplying the glitter. "Keep the Kama Sutra to the grown ups."

She grinned. "So there is floating sex!"

"No," Kon snapped. "There isn't and don't even ask next time, okay? Now have fun at your date but if he touches you."

She rolled her eyes as a horn honked outside. "You'll rip his arms off. Jax and Dad said the same thing. Even Uncle Jimmy and he's not even strong or telekinetic."

"At least we're all on the same page. Have fun, Mo, but be back by 7!"

"P.M.? Kon!"

"Mom and dad told me to watch you while they had that story in Dubai." If Dubai were that pesky Vega System this would actually be true. "I intend to. Now, seven or you don't go at all." 

"Fine, dad, whatever," she said slamming to door behind her and he really hadn't wanted to replace the hinges this weekend.

"Wow, she's the best birth control ever. Kama Sutra? Where do eleven year olds even come up with this crap?"

"TV," Cass replied almost as flippantly as Mo had been. She leaned over and kissed him. "What? You don't want to have a teenager of annoyance to take care of? One day have your own little girl to scare teenage boys over? You do a mean threat about beating to death with a shovel?"

"Not funny. Our little girl would be the picture of chastity. I wouldn't even let her out of the house until she's 100!"

"Do you need a tower too? Maybe some thorns?" she asked, giggling. "You'd have to relax some time."

"Dad got knocked up at twenty and he wasn't even married."

"Lucky for you and your mom on that one," Cass countered. "I'm sure Mo will be smart, besides, it's movies and dinner at TGI Friday's not exactly a rave."

"I know, but when did she get so old?"

"I asked that when Jason got accepted to Met U. It really does go fast," Cass said, her tone wistful. "But you have to admit, having a little firecrack like Mo could be fun."

"Or she could drive us crazy," he replied kissing her. "Besides, I thought someone was on the Chloe Sullivan plan and aiming to get her Pulitzer first."

"Oh of course, but it was just a thought. I think you'd make a wonderful kangaroo, Kon, definitely."

He just glared back at her.  
***

April 15, 2063 

The shovel hurt.

He wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't been out of his bedroom for weeks and kept the curtains shut, cutting off his exposure to direct sunlight or if it was just that Mo was as strong as he was if not stronger. She'd been aiming pretty hard.

"You're an asshole!"

"Go away, Mo. Just go away."

"Cass left here a week ago. She said she was tired of being locked out of your bedroom."

"She wasn't locked out. She could have iced the lock and broken it any time."

"You think she'd have wanted to have you let her in, Kon. Jesus how could you be so insenesitive? She's at Alura and Jax's crying her eyes out!"

"I can't. I just can't."

"Why not?"

"I look at her and I think of Carter. I see Cass crying and I think---"

"That it's her fault?"

"What?" he asked, sitting up. "Why would you even think that I'd think that."

"Because you've ignored her, driven her out of New York. I don't know. There were a lot of clues!"

"I can't have her look at me, because it's my fault. I talked to Dr. Thomkins, it's like with mom and dad where you have an allergy and you have someone who is green K filled. If I were normal, Carter wouldn't have been still born."

His sister stilled and dropped her shovel. "Do you really think that?"

"Yeah, you and mom can't heal DNA. It's why Jax is still damaged. It's why you couldn't save Carter. He wasn't viable and it was my fucking fault. I can I even look at Cass when I cost her what she wanted most in the world?"

"She doesn't think like that, you moron. She's 900 miles away, crying her eyes out, thinking the same thing. It's like the Gift of the Magi . She wanted you to be happy. She thinks it's all her fault. Kon, no one did this."

"DNA or whatever the fuck we had did it."

"Go see her," she said, stroking his hair.

"I can't," he replied, pulling the cover over his head. "I just can't."  
**

February 22, 2078 

"The party's here!" Mo chirped zipping in through the kitchen.

Kon groaned. It was the last thing he needed, except maybe for Aunt Kara stopping by. "Mom and dad aren't here. They went to Granville to buy new wrenches for the tractor."

"Where are my girls?" she asked. "Where are the moms?"

He banged his head lightly on the granite counter top, he didn't want to leave cracks. "Cass went to dump the bananas in the garbage."

"Um, the can's right here."

"The one in the barn. I'm having nausea. Dad said it happened with me and you both."

"And Cassie S.?"

"She's finishing up her shower. She and Cass went for a ride early this morning and she got pretty dusty."

She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully as their mom often did and got milk out of the fridge for herself. "So you don't know which Cassandra is the mom yet?"

"Don't sound like you're three."

"I don't," she pouted, guzzling her milk from the carton. "I just know it's Cass Carpenter. Then you can make up, and stop being a moron, and have the cutest niece or nephew ever. I mean, cutest aside from the squirrel thing."

"Cass is pretty enough or Cassie to undo any recessive Lana genes."

"But I mean it. This is going to work out. We only have three more days to go and then we'll know that Cass is the mom and it's going to be like a Disney movie."

"Flamebird," Cass chided, coming in and leaning against the door frame. She dusted her hands off on her jeans and Kon's breath caught. 

She was doing that to him a lot lately.

"Ice Queen," Mo said coolly, waiting a full thirty seconds before breaking into a wide smile and glowing just a hint. "Cass! I haven't seen you in forever," she said rushing to the other girl's embrace.

Cass smiled and squeezed her back. "Not for a year. I've been swamped in D.C. Supreme Court expects you to work, who knew?"

Mo rolled her eyes. "Okay, but you have to visit more. The DP is still awesome and you'd like sneaking in once in a while. I just got a promotion anyway to the top floor and it's amazing."

"And what's this about a Disney fairy tale?" Cass asked indulgently. "Does that make Kon the princess?"

"He's the one having the baby," Mo said, grinning. "I just meant...you two were always perfect!"

Cass's face fell a little but she managed to keep a smile up for his little sister. "We had our good moments. Mo, I tell you what. We were going to The Talon, the three of us, and it'd be great if you could come too."

Mo eyed her. "You want me to be the buffer in place of mom and dad for Kon the Kangaroo?"

"Hey! I am right here!"

Cass squeezed her and then broke the embrace. "Go upstairs and see if Wondergirl's ready. It'll be good to be a trio again."

"And overwhelm my brother," Mo sing-songed, disappearing up the stairs.

Kon stood up and took his bowl to the sink. "You'd never know that she's in her fifties and I don't mean because she looks preternaturally young either."

Cass nodded. "Yeah, for all the ways she can be a total Kent---"

"Hey!"

"You guys mope," she said, shrugging. "Your dad is an Olympic champ. It's not a judgment thing. I find it so hard to see her and be in this house and not feel like it's like we were. That she's still this idealistic twenty year old."

"We know better," he said, leaning against the sink, unsure of where she was going with this. 

"I'm flattered in a weird way that she's rooting for us and that she wants to be related to me, the aunt to my child if that is my child."

"I know, if ."

"But we know it's not like you wave a wand over it and it gets better. We tried so hard and then we crashed and burned. I don't know how another chance, if it is our chance, is going to end up 'happily ever after.'"

"Mom said you asked a lot about me the last few days, about how I was feeling and what the Fortress said. Cassie hasn't asked."

"I'm sure Cassie's just been frazzled."

He swallowed. "I love you."

"Kon, you're in a delicate condition and there are hormones and you're stressed more than any of us. We can't do this right now."

"I love you. If I could do what my dad did once, and take back any moment in my life, I would take what I did after we lost Carter back. You know I would, but I can't."

"Then don't talk about it," she said, her voice wavering. "I loved you and you broke that trust apart. If this is my child, I'll take care of it the best I know how. If it's not, I'll be a good aunt like Mo. I...I can't say the feelings ever died out because they didn't. You know they didn't or I'd never have slept with you again and started this mess."

"Cass---"

"But it hurt, Kon. What you did, it hurt me so much I felt like I couldn't breathe for years. I love you. Some part of me will always love you, but I can't trust you again. I can't go back to you just so you can do it again next time something falls apart."

"I---"

She straightened and started to the stairs. "We'll go get some tea and coffee and relax. Metas being out or not, you only have so long you can go out and feel normal and that clock is ticking down. You're about seven weeks now. You should be showing by 20 tops."

"I know. I...shouldn't we talk more?"

"There's nothing to say," she said sadly, taking to the stairs.  
Back to index  
Chapter 15 by Tobywolf13  
July 4, 2024 

"You know," Kon said, finishing his job and tossing the diaper into the pail. "Maybe I take it back. Maybe milk should never be green." 

Mo giggled and pulled his hair. He'd let it get shaggy over the summer. He was regretting it now that his sister was able to grab at things. She was pretty strong for a four month old. 

"That's not cool, Mo. I don't pull your hair." Large blue eyes blinked back at him. She looked so innocent, until she reached out and did it again. She laughed and let go only after he squirmed a little.

"I'm telling mom."

"Really? Really, really?" Cass asked, laughing as she entered the nursery. "Fawkes and The Ghost---"

"Superman," Kon corrected. "Dad and Aunt Kara are really digging the name and color change since they came out. I know it's hard to do the change over. Half the League still calls them the wrong codenames."

"I can't imagine your Uncle Bruce was thrilled."

Kon shrugged. "He likes discretion but I think it's going really well. It's not like everyone in Metropolis couldn't guess that there was more to the town than Fawkes and the Angel of Vengeance."

Cass grinned and took Mo from him, tickling her tummy. Mo squealed and clapped. Yeah, Cass's hair was superlong. Where was her hair pull? "Well your Aunt Lois said that a lot of the people of Metropolis really really like the new uniforms. I'd been meaning to ask you on the side, is that whole underwear on the outside thing for your dad some Kryptonian thing or is he special in a way you never mentioned?"

"It's apparently ceremonial in some way. I don't know. It's not what I'd have picked but I got overriden."

"How?"

"Well between it being ceremonial on Krypton and Aunt Lois insisting no one would look at his face..."

Cass laughed more. "Hard to be scared of aliens even with superstrength if they have on a mini skirt and tighty red underoos."

"They're fearsome! And Aunt Kara...don't say it like she's a pin-up."

She rolled her eyes and held Mo to her chest. "Dude, it's awfully short. I don't get either choice frankly. Bruce might be a jerk and your mom might not make Maxim, but the body armor makes sense. No one wants to get shot."

"We're invulenrable."

"Not to public humiliation," she quipped. "You gotta admit, it's pretty funny."

"I am not dressing like that. If we ever get to join the Titans with Jax, I'm taking after mom."

"I think that's a shame."

"Do you?" he asked, taking Mo from her and cradling her against his shoulder as they walked to the lawn of the farmhouse. His extended family were over enjoying the fireworks for the fourth. 

Giggling and sprinting down the stairs, she called back, "You've got nice legs."

He glared as she ran across the field and half-tackled Jax. "Slow poke."

"I can't speed with an infant, you cheater."

His mom came up next to him and took Mo back. "You better not, Connor Sullivan."

"I wasn't! She's cheating."

Mo laughed and grabbed at his mom's long curls; she deflected. "Oh no, Mo, I like my head not scalped. Super infants. I don't know why I put up with you kangaroos at all."

Kon grinned down at her. It was still weird to realize how tall he'd gotten over the crappy year they'd had. His mom used to have an inch or two on him and now he was closing in on his dad. "Because we have benefits."

"Name one."

"We're very cute."

"You're going to need to come up with a reason that's better than that. Early feedings are something I'd forgotten about."

He laughed and kissed his mom and Mo on the cheek. "We have superpowers?"

"Who doesn't?" Cass called from where she was chasing both Jax and Alura (who'd promised not to use her powers for the day to make it fair). 

"See, she's smart," his mom replied. "Dad and Uncle Jimmy are bringing out the hot dogs to roast. Do you have a preference for how they'll cook yours?"

"Heat vision?"

"Nah, you dad's insisting totally All American besides it makes your Uncle Jimmy not inclined to eat them. He's got a thing against heat vision cooking."

"That's not very P.C."

"No, it's not an 'a-word' thing. It's a the trigger's hormonal thing."

Kon blushed. "Oh, I think the grill works then."

His mom nodded and walked carefully down the stairs to join his aunts on a red and white patchwork quilt. His grandmother and grandpa Lionel were coming in late from the city, but otherwise all the family that mattered to him was on the farm. Sighing, Kon leaned against the porch railing. He was a little surprised when Cass snuck up on him, but just a little. He did tend to get distracted. It was a Kent family trait.

"Moping?"

"No!"

"Just thinking."

"And?"

He grinned back at her and gave her a hug, grateful after everything and wherever they were as friends, she'd let him. "We look so boringly All American."

"Well aren't you?" she asked, winking.

Good point.  
***

February 22, 2078 

"So we, uh, had some weather," Kon said, floundering for anything to say in front of the Cassies and his sister.

Mo rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. She wasn't even blowing on the steam, the show off. "It's Kansas in February. There was some snow. It's not news. Let's talk about the baby!"

Cassie S. choked on her cappuccino and Cass Carpenter, who was sitting across from Mo and on Wondergirl's left, dropped her biscotti.

"Huh?" Kon grunted.

"Well have you picked out names yet?"

"Mo, Kon's only six weeks, right?" Cassie asked, sipping her drink again.

"Yeah, sevenish. We can't even tell what sex it'll be for weeks."

"You could pick out names in reserve," Mo argued. "It's never too early. I mean, you need to think outside the box. We do so many family names."

"Connor's not a family name!" he countered.

"No, but mom picked it cause it's good and Irish, so I bet if you shook the Sullivan family tree hard enough..."

"No, I get that," Cass said, chewing thoughtfully. "Really, that's a big thing to do. Naming is hard and I think that six weeks in is even a little early to have reserve names."

Mo shrugged. "Kon still has a list in his wallet."

"Mo, corner now," Kon said, wincing as Cass's biscotti exploded.

Just a little.

"Kon!"

"Sorry," he hissed, blushing. "I just...I'm sorry."

Cass nodded and grabbed some napkins. "It's cool. Cassie and I can get more."

The blonde nodded and followed Cass. "Yeah, more sugary treats coming up."

Kon waited until they were barely out of human earshot before he looked at Mo. "Are you some how brain damaged?"

"No?"

"Then you need to cool it. You just can't bumble in here like Aunt Lois would have or like Aunt Kara does and stomp around and make a match. You're fifty three years old. For fuck's sake, just act like it once."

"Cass is right here. You two haven't spent more than two seconds near each other when not on League business in fifteen years. She's right here, Kon, and you can go from there."

"Mo, why is this so important to you?"

She stiffened. "Because you're miserable."

He shook his head. "This is about you, Mo Ru-Cek . I know that it is. You've not dated anyone, even a meta, in five years and you're waiting to what? Have Cass Carpenter and me prove that it works. Mom and dad prove that, Jax and Alura. You know that it just takes effort on people's part and a desire not to date a Lana wannabe douche."

She sighed and sobered. "It works if you match."

"Cass isn't half Kryptonian."

"She's long lived, Kon. You two, mom and dad, Alura and Jax...you all live the same amount of time, we think. Aunt Kara is miserable."

"I know Uncle Jimmy is getting older but we all knew this was going to happen. We knew it."

"I know that he's got dementia, Kon. I went to visit Aunt Kara as a surprise two months ago. Tell me it works then."

"She loves him and he loved her and probably still does on some level," Kon offered.

Mo began to cry. "He's dying and she has to watch it. Do you know how awful that must be for her? For Alura?"

"No, I don't."

"I can't...I'm not like Aunt Kara. I can't watch the person I love grow old and forget me and die in front of my eyes. I can't watch it happen in succession over a thousand years or a million."

He frowned. "No one ever said a million."

She laughed and it wasn't pleasant. "Mom rises from the dead and dad's Superman. What the Hell does that make me?"

Kon blinked. "Mo? Do you want to go somewhere? Let me take a minute from the soap opera I created and we can talk about this okay?"

She shook her head. "I'm here for you okay? I don't even know how to explain it. I just know that you and Cass have something I'd kill for and that most humans can never have because it could be for centuries and you're acting like morons about it. You owe it to more than just yourselves or the baby if it's both of yours to fix this."

"I do?"

"You owe it to everyone else who doesn't get a shot this good. It's this huge gift and you're both wasting it."  
Back to index  
Chapter 16 by Tobywolf13  
February 8, 2063 - Santa Monica, California 

Kon smiled and flickered on his X-Ray vision. When he'd first gotten it, besides the customary migraines, he'd loathed it. It had been his final tipping point to the realization that he wasn't just a ridiculously diverse meteor mutant. He'd also had it flicker in and out the first week when he couldn't control it, forcing him to see Mo---not very far along at all---curled up in his dad's stomach. It was traumatizing.

Right now, watching their child move and its heartbeat in real time was unreal. Kon wouldn't have traded that for anything else in the world.

Well maybe he would have for shoulder pads.

Cass slapped him lightly and giggled. "No fair! All I have is the pictures to look at. I can't possibly look! Or hear!"

"Yeah, dad said Lana used to complain on that. Don't be a Lana," he chirped, before laughing. Truth was his real mom was like that too. They all wanted to see and hear the baby the way the Kryptonian half of the family could. He wished Cass could, although, it was inherently distracting. She wouldn't be doing so well in her "second go-round" at The Los Angeles Times if she spent all day staring at the baby.

Starting over had been something Kon wanted to do after Lana's death. Not only was it time to stop pretending twenty-five was the same as forty-one, surely more than one person at The NY Times was giving Cass dirty looks or begging her for her surgeon's number. His world was easier to move in. It was an eccentric crowd to start with and the scrutiny on a man's age wasn't quite as bad, even now. Cass, well she'd always been beautiful, but ungodly beautiful and permanently twenty-five definitely led to co-workers sniping at her.

Let them be jealous.

Still, starting over was just odd. New names outside their own aparment's walls, new places to work, new circles of friends to collect. They'd have to hold it in the line for at least nineteen years and they could usually run a couple or three decades in one spot. His parents had pushed it, under Perry and now Richard White's protection, but at least they lived in an age of nips and tucks, fillers and botox. People just assumed that he had access to resources mere mortals didn't and, technically, that was true. It just wasn't some doctor he'd paid a kidney to.

Although, with as much of a struggle as it was to get meta rights laws followed to the letter and not vaguely dismissed in spirit, even decades after his grandmother's hard work, he really doubted that the average human New York socialite would try to find the fountain of youth using meteor rocks.

He certainly didn't advise it

Moving and aliases over the last thirteen years had been a hard adjustment at first, but now it wasn't so hard at all. They had each other and his family. They had associates who did care, who were kind. They just couldn't be allowed to know.

"I am not a Lana!" she shouted, mock-horrified. "I just am jealous. I can be a Chloe!"

Kon laughed and kissed her forehead. "Always, but you'll just give yourself a headache squinting. Besides, you can feel the kicking when it starts in about four to five weeks. Cass you're doing the fun part."

She chuckled. "That's not what your dad calls it."

"Well you're not going to need transfusions or meteor-enhanced resuscitations. Dad and Aunt Kara did have a hard time of it, not gonna lie, but Dr. Thomkins and Grandma are very pleased."

She laughed again. "I love Lara."

"Everyone loves Grandma Lara. I mean, okay, the AI programmed to 'be' here but she's like undiluted grandma on the 11th setting. Grandma Martha was amazing and she still has won out over all on pie making and baby Kryptonian raising prowess."

"But it's nice to have a grandma still around. I..."

He nodded and kissed her stomach. "We sort of collect people to miss. Grandma Martha and Grandpa Lionel. Aunt Lois has lung cancer and I wish I'd realized she'd started sneaking cigarettes at home and at The DP somehow. It's how it is. Speaking of, I have to figure out something complicated and magically financial with Uncle Bruce and Uncle Oliver while they're still around."

Cass snorted. "Bruce is immortal. He'll be glowering at our asses 'til roughly the end of time."

"I hope not, but I have to...it's going to be be impossible to explain why I have and will be allowed to have LuthorCorp controlling interest in perpetuity much longer. I mean I look half my age and not in a 'my face doesn't move and I look permanently surprised way.' I know people are talking. It's Metropolis and people there always know the weird deep down when they see it."

She sighed and took his hand, placing it over her stomach and their child. "I'm sure Bruce has a million plans to keep you where you belong, Kon."

"It's not...we don't need the money. I could make a hundred ridiculously large diamonds tomorrow and the day after and the day after plus, you know, I am pretty damn good at my job."

She smiled. "You're fantastic at what you make."

"And I date the second best reporter out there."

"Hey!"

"Meet my mom, deal," he riposted. "But the company, it does so much good. I make it do good. I make things like 33.1 and Cadmus a distant nightmare. I mean, over 25% of our earnings go back into meta-based charities, and it's obviously not a tax benefit PR move."

"I know."

"If I have to leave because I'm too 'young' to be public anymore ever, I don't think it'd ever be like how Lex made it, of course, but LuthorCorp is like Wayne and Queen Industries. We set a precedent every time. I mean, metas, god forbid can get jobs and health care and everything in between from the three of us from day one. Everyone knows about LC's hiring policies. I don't even like business---"

"Honey, you're rambling."

"I just...yeah, we're meeting in a couple of months to think the big ifs over. Stupid immortality."

She nodded and didn't say anything for a long time, lost in her own thoughts. "You could go public."

"Um? I'm not gonna come out as Phoenix, all powerful alien, any time soon."

"No," she said, raising a line of frost on his arm. "I mean that you could admit that Connor Kent's been altered like so many other people in Lowell County. It's not like the more snotty out there haven't accused you of being just that because of company policies being 'too soft.'"

He shook his head. "I can't. If people know I'm partially weird, then they'll dig deeper and go from meteor mutant to Kryptonian Justice Leaguer and then it's not just me who's in trouble," he finished, kissing Cass's fledgling bump. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt the baby."

"You do what you have to do, Kon. If coming out in some way, even if it's just that you're infected, is what you want and what you think LuthorCorp needs, we'd understand."

"And I'd risk my family."

"We understand that," she said, taking his hand more tightly. "We do. The way the big three companies run now, the way LC runs now, you protect a lot more people than just me and the baby."

"Bruce will come up with something. He always does. Hiding's safe, Cass. It's what we do. It's what we're always going to have to do. It's not safe for us."

"And if losing control of LuthorCorp keeps you up nights---"

"Does not. I just know what happened when Uncle Bruce was gone in Asia for seven years. Mr. Earle took over and the company's only as good as who runs it. I mean, I don't do all the day to day, but I make sure we do what we promise. Someone out there would be a good successor, I know they would."

"Maybe in twenty plus years, the little one is ready to be business friendly," she replied.

"Huh," he said, leaning back down and placing his head on her bump, relaxing at the fast rhythm that greeted him. 

"What?"

"I never thought about...I assumed another reporter," he said, chuckling. "Although since the baby's not even five months cooked yet, I guess picking out their career is premature."

"I, Mr. Kent, would settle for some names. Are you sure you can't tell yet?"

He sighed. "I've been looking for a while. I promise, i haven't seen anything yet and I have great vision but I'm not gonna be able to focus well enough for chromosome vision."

"Point but I just want to do the naming part!"

"Well," he conceded, stroking her hip. "We could. Just a list of names on both sides, like 'if it is a girl, then ___' versus 'if it is a boy, then ____.'"

"We could do that?"

He smiled. "Why not. We'll just save the ones we don't use for next time."

"Kon, honey, you know that this is probably a one shot deal for whatever reason. So we definitely have to get the name right."

"It's not. If we only have a kid every twenty years, then we're doing about on pace with mom and dad anyway."

Cass sighed and patted his head. "You know what I mean. Dr. Thomkins says that---"

"I know what she says. I'm just saying that we made it once, we can make it again. We can come up with a dozen names. We could have a whole colony of rugrats."

"You can't make it so."

"I can declare it," he countered, winking at her. "Let's just think of a few names, but Raf-El is not on the list."

Cass shuddered. "Mo is so lucky that didn't happen to her. Right. I love my intergalactic kangaroo but you are going to have to pick good family names."

"Well I think Aunt Kara meant well."

"Yeah, but ouch."

"I don't really know many family names. I know Kryptonian ones from the stories Kara told me as a kid, I just don't know much about personal family history."

"You never took the training."

"Alura did. She even made Jor-El get over himself and let Jax take it."

"You're not Alura," she countered, looking down at him. "Why didn't you ever take it?"

He sighed. "It wasn't a teenage snit thing. I just had college and then the League and when was I gonna have time to take a year or so and devote most of it to training?"

"Alura and Jax---"

"Are professors. They found sabbatical time, and it fits into both their research frankly, even if Jax isn't allowed to really, you know---"

"Jump start human science several centuries? I know. I just, why didn't you take it? Your dad and cousins did. Why not you or Mo?"

"Mo promised mom she would but not until a Pulitzer. Since they could take some time, I think it's just dependent on the nominating committee for that."

"Uh-huh. Why not you, Kon?"

"I don't know."

"It can't be horrendous. Alura took it twice!"

"I know and dad could be Superman and have a toddler and do it during the day. I do get that."

"So you can see how to me it looks a little like an identity crisis thing again."

He shook his head. "It just never felt like there was time to take nine months or a year and concentrate on this. Or a point."

She stilled and was quiet for a while. "It's where you come from, Kon."

"I know, but I don't spend time studying the Small or the Potter family trees either. I love mom, but I don't like ask for extra boring Sullivan family tree tales. I just...maybe I'm more interested in where I'm going, but since it matters to you, we'll have Alura over and she can help us think up more Kryptonian names besides Raf-El and Kala that matter to our family, okay?"

Cass sighed. "I want you to want to take training."

"You want me at the Arctic while you're nursing? That's not fair."

"No, but I just...what don't you want to know?"

"I just don't want to be busy that far away and only see you coming and going. Maybe after the kiddo's in kindergarten, now about names..."  
***

June 15, 2063 

"You didn't have to help. Cassie has me covered in the superstrong pack mule department."

"You don't have to leave," he countered, placing his hand on the stack of boxes she'd gathered and he was about to take to her rented van. "You don't."

Cass swallowed. "I already took the spot, Kon. I asked Bruce and he made a call at Princeton. I just need to do anything different. New state, new friends, new career. I think it's a good way to get space. I mean, I know I could be on Saturn and you'd find me, but I know you'll respect the continent between us."

"Cass," he said, reaching for her and hating himself so much when she backed away. "you don't have to go all the way to New Jersey."

"It's where the law school is."

"And you just lost a baby not three months ago. Don't you think 180'ing your life is drastic?"

"I dunno," she replied harshly, grabbing a smaller box to take to the car. "Do you think that what you did was normal and good coping mechanism?"

"Cass---"

"No, I have to make a clean break here. I'm taking time off from the League. Bruce and Terry and J'onn and your mom...they all think that a few years not even on emergency call status, just totally out is good for me."

"What?"

"Clean break, Kon. I won't be back on duty until after I graduate. I just need not to see you, okay?"

"I...but the League needs you."

She turned to glare at him. "Either I leave or you leave. I can't deal with you right now in any capacity and your powers are infinitely more important than mine. What you can do is better and saves more lives. Bruce and J'onn called this more 'expedient.'"

He reached out once more and she side-stepped, cursing when her box fell and papers spilled from it. Kon was there in his customary blur, filing through the papers. He dropped the one with her handwriting on it, the one with the two columns of names, starting with 'Carter' on it.

"You kept this?"

Cass paled when she realized what he had. "I honestly forgot it was in here. I didn't realize. We should throw that out. Hell, burn it in the fire place after I'm gone, Kon. That's done."

"I..."

She sighed and picked her box back up. "Kon, it won't do anyone any good to look at this. It won't do you any good. Sell the house. Donate that nursery full of stuff we're never going to use. The meta orphans' fund can take it off your hands in a flash. Don't just sit here and wait for it to make sense. It won't."

"We were supposed to be---"

"A lot of things," she replied, the fight drained from her. "Carter's dead, Kon. We're not what we were. I'll see you in about three years, okay?" And with that, she was already headed out the door.  
***

February 23, 2078 (3 a.m.) 

"You're behind me. I knew you never even fell asleep. I knew the minute you moved the covers to get out of bed. I knew the minute you ran the water and I know you're here now. I always know," he said, flushing the toilet and leaning against this bathub behind him. 

Cass nodded and placed the wet rag on his neck. "Your mom hinted it was a regular time for morning sickness. Like I said, if this is my child, hell even if it's Cassie's, someone should be here with you."

"Why? I did it to myself."

Cass kept stroking his neck. "We'll hate your guts or be mad or yell later, after there's not a baby in there."

"You're gonna hold off on being pissed until August?"

"No but I'm not gonna be a raging bitch at 3 a.m. when you're whoozy either. I just...we've fought for fifteen years. We've been angry and hurt and furious and ignored each other. I'm so tired, Kon."

"It is 3 a.m."

" Not that kind of tired," she countered. "I love you and I hate me."

"I'm super confused."

"I love you so fucking much. I've spent fifteen years changing my life over and made sure to keep 1500 miles between us. I've worked so hard to get rid of you."

"I don't know how to take that."

"I tried so hard but we've been in each other's lives since we were eight. I don't know to stop the feelings I have. I don't know how to stop caring about you."

"Could have fooled me."

"You only had to show up on my doorstep, visibly upset, and I crumbled like everything with Carter never happened. You have so much leverage over me, Connor."

"I didn't realize."

She sighed and surprised him by squeezing his hand. "I don't think you or your dad or even Aunt Kara ever really got it. Your mom, me, Jimmy Olsen...we all would do anything for you. Is that a superpower?"

"I doubt it."

She nodded. "We'd do anything for you and we can't just leave you no matter how hard it is. You're like the rocks we break ourselves against and it's fucking scary. I wanted to just be free of all of that and your melodramatic, self-centered bullshit for the first time in decades."

"If the baby is yours, don't stick around out of guilt or cause I fucked it up."

She shook her head. "If the baby is mine, then this is my shot, Kon, for one thing. For another, I don't walk on my responsibilities. You know this is unfair to you if I did. I'm not an absentee mom, okay?"

"And if it's Cassie Sandsmark's? You made a clean run from most of my bullshit outside of the League for a long time. I think it was good for you."

"Career wise, maybe. But I'm so fucking lonely, Kon. I hate you."

"Thanks," he drolled. 

"I do! No one gets me like you do. I mean, what the fuck is the point of dating after leaving what was a decades' long relationship? Christ we were married."

"We were engaged ," he offered.

"I had your bracelet on my wrist for twenty years. Kon, how can anyone I ever meet compare to that? Even if it's someone in the League, even if I found another meta who lives too long, it's...our history is too fucking intertwined. I can't get clear of you."

"You just don't have to feel trapped."

"I feel miserable. I did try. I tried everything. I dated normal humans and meteor mutants. I tried just being a nun with my career. I even considered just being a nun period. I'm not even that kidding. I just, no one will ever understand me like you do. They're always going to come up short. That's before how compatible our abilities are physically or how we'll both be here tomorrow or eight hundred years from now. I just...I love you but sometimes I resent you so goddamn much."

He sighed and squeezed her hand again. "We never should have started dating."

"I think when we were in junior year, neither of us knew I'd live so long, that we'd sort of jumped the gun into something that was going to be ridiculously permanent."

That much was true. It wasn't until Cass was thirty but looked about twenty-two that it began to click for them she wasn't just more powerful at freezing things than her father was. Dr. Emil had confirmed several years later those suspicions. The way her gift worked, it was like being cryogenically frozen from the inside out. 

"I knew," he said. 

"Huh?"

"I knew about my end of it, Cass. Kryptonians, even the New New Council, we're one person people."

"Jax---"

"Took his time but he adores his family and you know he does. I knew I was like my dad that once, for sure, once we slept together that'd be it for me. I definitely knew it when I gave you mom's bracelet."

"Until Cassie Sandsmark and some champagne," she said, sadly.

"I just wanted her to be you. We weren't...she wanted me to be someone else and she knew I was thinking about you the entire time, okay? I haven't done anything with anyone since you left me."

"Well I think---"

"I know, I get that," he said, cutting her off before she could recount what he'd done after Carter's death. "I thought you could move on. I physically can't. As fucked up and alien as that sounds, I'm not made that way."

Cass blinked. "Wait, Cassie was what?"

He blushed. "Nevermind, I was upset and shouldn't have mentioned it. Cassie was just drunk, okay."

"No, who was she...Oh My God. That's beyond fucked up."

He looked away. "No one said we were mentally stable. Cass, I miss you. You miss me. I fucked everything all to hell fifteen years ago and now we're here whether this is your baby or not and we're actually talking. What do you want?"

"I want to stop caring the way I do. I want it to just stop, Kon." She snorted. "I feel like that stupid U2 song. I can't deal with you but I can't live without you either. I just...why can't we have a relationship where all the feelings are amped up to 11 all the time?"

"Most couples don't start off sharing secrets as deep as ours or hit midstride with superheroing or evil billionaire plots. I don't know. I thought me being gone was what you needed. God knows, I'd have come back to D.C. and begged you on bended knee every day for years if I knew you wanted me."

She sniffled and he felt the temperature drop, and saw her breath fog when she spoke. "I want you but I want not to feel like I need you."

"You did amazing without me for 15 years. It's not some weird co-dependence."

She nodded. "But when we're at our best, I'm happiest with you. I miss what we had so much."

"Me too," he answered leaning over, grateful when she let him kiss her temple. "I just miss everything so much."

"Did you really keep that list for fifteen years?"

He swallowed. "I can't explain it. I didn't keep anything else. Nothing we bought for him. I donated them right away. I don't...maybe it's cause it was your handwriting. Maybe it was because Carter was going to be the best thing we ever did. I just kept them."

"Mo's got her own issues and I don't blame you for her and her wort matchmaking approach ever."

"Thanks."

"I mean it," she said, stroking his neck, keeping him cool still. "I'm oddly flattered you did. I just...it all hurt so much, Kon. If it happened again, I'd never recover or paste myself back together."

"The baby?"

"No, if we tried again and you broke me, I could have a dozen years or a thousand and I'd never be right again."

"Cass, believe me, the last thing I want to do is hurt you."

"That's what happened last time."

"I know."

She sighed and leaned against his shoulder. "Let's just get to the 26th. If the baby's Cassie's then I'm just Aunt Cass anyway."

"And all the feelings we've been fighting just go away forever? Cass, I can only promise you I'll try and that I know that fifteen years ago I made the biggest mistake of my life, okay?"

She stood up then and dropped his hand. "I don't know if that's good enough."

With that, she was gone.  
Back to index  
Chapter 17 by Tobywolf13  
April 29, 2043 

"We need to talk."

Jax frowned at him but kept munching on nails while watching the Red Sox game. "Why?"

"Wondergirl and I had 'Tower duty two days ago."

"That's nice," he said. "Look it's a no-hitter. I invited you to enjoy watching your team get wrecked."

"The Yankees don't get wrecked. It's why they're The Yankees ," Kon reminded impatiently. "Besides, this isn't about baseball."

Jax's eyes went wide. "Shut your mouth. It's always about baseball, especially once the season starts."

Kon smirked a little and grabbed some nails. Even though Jax hadn't let himself play since he was fourteen, he loved baseball dearly and was about the most annoying superfan he'd ever met. Eidectic memory and speed reading made him an expert on every inane thing anyone who had ever played for Boston had ever done. Get him started and...

Still, Jax only played if he tossed the ball around a little with Kon or another person of the superstrength persuasion. The two things Mo had been able to salvage for him were his invulnerability and strength. Kon knew that Jax still missed the speed desperately and probably always would, but it was enough of his abilities retained to make him dangerous on a sports field to humans. Kon didn't really get it. He'd never been into sports, not like his grandpa and dad loved football or his 'brother' adored baseball. Not really being able to play as a kid had never bothered him.

Jax had grown up playing it and loved it. He'd been (thanks to grade skipping) on Varsity for to years before he'd had to quit. There weren't twelve year olds on high school varsity, ever, unless, of course, they could see everything in ridiculous slow motion and hit a pitch no matter how fast it traveled.

But Jax had a sense of honor about him. He'd hurt someone very badly when his pendant had come off, left him maimed in point of fact, and now Jax didn't play, but he did obsess on it. It made him sometimes too much to take from spring training until the Red Sox inevitably got eliminated from the playoffs.

Also, it was a testament to how much he loved Jax that he deigned to sit through all that ra-ra Sox bullshit all the time when everyone knew the house that Murderers Row built could and would never be beatable.

"I'm serious. Are you and Wondergirl doing okay?"

"I think we're doing rather well, actually. This is the most committed relationship I've ever been in."

Kon frowned. Jax was notorious, especially when he'd still be in grad school, for bedding two or three or more freshman a night. "I know and I think that's a really cool thing, man."

Jax nodded. "We can't all be married."

"Engaged."

"Bracelet," he countered. "I thought that things are going really well with Cassie. Why did she say something?"

Kon considered how to approach this. Technically, he probably wasn't supposed to be meddling, but Cassie had seemed so on the verge of breaking it off with Jax, he felt like he owed it to the other guy to see if he could salvage his relationship. "She says you're closed off a lot."

"Am I?"

Kon sighed and turned of the TV. "She says she keeps trying to talk to you about things."

"We do have conversations. I don't understand what you're getting at."

"She feels like you shut her out and that you don't open up a lot. About, you know."

"She knows I'm Kryptonian, dur, that's the turn on of dating a Leaguer cause the death stares after are not as fun."

"No, I know. She feels you shut her out about your dad."

"Steve's met her. They get along okay. I mean, he's still working on that whole his stepson's not completely from around here thing since Jessie yanked my closet door down, but it's like they seem to get along okay. He gets a kick out of her extended family."

"Yeah, Cassie's, um, Greek side is really colorful," Kon agreed. "But I meant Dax-Ur and you know I did."

Jax sighed and set his food down. Kon noticed the lights overhead flicker slightly. "Sometimes she asks about him, just to me. She knows that that's not mom's thing and that it's not really something for a family dinner. I appreciate that."

"What about you? We never talk about him. I...I was an asshole."

Jax nodded. "Yeah, you were. But it doesn't mean that everything you basically hinted about my dad and everything he is wasn't complete bullshit."

"He wasn't---"

"You never met him. He died before you were even conceived, Kon. I thought I knew him. I was eight. What the Hell did I know?"

"He helped dad when he needed it," Kon pointed out calmly.

"Billions of people, Kon. He let billions of people die because he was chickenshit. What do I do with that? You hate Lana? She didn't passively let a genocide happen last time I checked."

"You dad didn't."

"He ran . People died wholesale and now we're stranded here. It's really not something I want to talk about with her or you and especially never with Kara or Clark."

"Why Aunt Kara and dad?"

"It's their families that died. I just, I'm glad your family humors me most days."

"We don't humor, and Kara was honest. She said your dad did so many things and not just invent Brainiac, okay?"

"Yeah, but with that on your resume, Kon, what else do you need?"  
***

February 24, 2078 

Kon sat down on the sofa in the living room. On his Grandpa Hiram's rocker, Cassie Sandsmark was working on crafts. She made worry beads, these great chains of blown glass and rosary-like strands, as a hobby. It was something she'd picked up from her mom's trips abroad to Greece, her version of knitting but prettier. "Cass and Mo went to The Talon. There was shouting. I think someone's gonna stop thinking about matchmaking."

"She probably was eaves-dropping the last few days. I...Cass and I had a long talk yesterday at ass early in the morning."

She concentrated on threading the hemp around a bead as blue as his mom's bracelet. "That's good. Look, because we got drunk, don't think I'm going to be hurt. If I could...I would give anything to be able to make things up with him but I'm not an idiot, okay? Reconciliation is not in my cards. Like I said, we're a much better platonic team than we are sexually."

"Wait? Did I suck or something?"

Cassie looked at him and considered his question seriously. "No. You were fine."

"I was fine?"

"Well, on a scale, maybe an eight. See eight out of ten is good even. You're a B!"

He snorted and grabbed the remote. "I see. You didn't sound like I was just a B."

"There's a baby present. We probably shouldn't be talking like this."

"It doesn't have ears yet, and I'm serious. I am not just B grade here. I am excellent."

"Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"Try not to take this the wrong way but, first, you've only ever been with one person in your life but me. So your experience, a little limited. Two, you're so Kansasian it's painful."

"What does that even mean?"

She snickered. "The other side of my family came up with shit way before those peeps in India did. You can think it? The Greeks did it like eons back."

"I didn't...huh, never thought of you as kinky, Wondergirl."

"I play my cards close to the chest," she replied, still threading. "Besides, you had to compete with someone who has nothing but experience and under every extreme you can think of. You get points for basic material but you're not terribly creative."

"Huh, this is really, huh."

"So B, but you can always get better for Cass," she sing-songed.

"Yeah, cause if this is your baby in here, that's not gonna be awkward."

"Well," she said, setting her work down and looking up at him. "The way I figure it is before Anna Fortune and our own idiocy fucked it up, we were good friends. I mean, we weren't like that and, frankly, we aren't now. We're good friends who might have done something rash and this new little person came out of it, possibly. I am okay with being your friend and taking cause of the baby and switching off and doing graduations and holidays and whatever else has to be done and still understanding that I'm not who you want because, frankly, Kon, you're not who I want. But, yanno, if I were gonna have a kid, I could def do worse in the dad department."

"Thanks I think?"

She grinned and shrugged. "You're a decent guy. I think we just...lonely and alcohol plus wanting someone else, not good combinations."

"Nope."

"I just, I think if this is our kid, you'd be about a bazillion times better dad than mine."

"Your dad is, ah, colorful."

"We get along more than we used to but, I mean, he's not exactly someone I'd like to point out to my son or daughter and be all 'grow up like Grandpa!'"

Kon snickered. "Well, your dad loves life."

"And women and sometimes men, not judging. I just am like there's not an immortal and hardly a mortal out there he's not reached out and touched. I have so many half siblings that it's ridiculous."

"He has a lot of time on his hands?"

"Just, if this had to go down this way and we'll know in like thirty-six hours if it did but if I had to have someone be on the nomination block for mini-Sandsmark then you're not a bad choice."

"I'm just not Jax."

She nodded and sighed. "And I'm not Cass Carpenter. What a mess we may have made," she conceded. "But if you two have a shot, don't feel like if it plays out this way, that me or the baby are an excuse because it's not like I'd intend to stop dating or looking for Mr. Right, just with less champagne next time."

"Well, before you get out your pom-poms and get behind Mo for cheerleading duties, Cass and I did talk about it and she can't trust me. If you can't trust someone, you can't date them, even if there's another baby mama in the picture. So you'd be ancillary to our stalemate. I...she's so scared and I did that."

"Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"No one actually knows what you did."

"I think Mom has put it together over the decades, but I can't talk about it. She was right to leave."

"Who did you sleep with then, Kon?"

He frowned. "Huh?"

"It's screamingly obvious. I don't know why Mo hasn't put it together in your weird savant brains, but I think Alura and Jax have even if they've never said anything. I mean it's just, there's only one thing that's more insult to injury after everything that happened with Carter. Who was she?"

"Look, Cass---"

"Clark? You back? I heard rumors floating out there that you were!" Jax called as he came in through the porch door. "See we're trying to figure out the best way to let Nala in on the phone home stuff and we're looking for your advice. We're going to do the opposite of that."

Cassie squeaked. It sort of amazed him that the soap opera bullshit between all of them could leave Wondergirl squeaking. Under most circumstances alien dictators and Lex Luthor and Gotham's worst and whatever else never fazed her. The sight of Jax coming through the door? She was suddenly white as anything.

"Jax?"

It wasn't that she hadn't seen him. It's just like with him and Cass C. any interactions had been pretty much League based and certainly not in a casual, homey place like Kent Farm.

"Oh Cassie, hey," he sputtered. "What's up? I didn't expect you to be here."

She smiled a little. "Obviously. Uh, I've been over here a few days, a week almost."

Jax frowned. "Kon, can we talk a minute?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "I hear well enough and you're a loudmouth. Let's just save the cloak and dagger. What was on your mind besides the big talk?"

Jax sighed. "Are you and Kon?"

Cassie quirked her head at him. "Are we?"

"Oh okay this is just, happily married."

"I know," she answered.

"And love my kids."

"Yeah, I assumed."

"And soulmates, I mentioned that yes?"

"Jax, I get it. No, we're not dating, if that'd be weird for you, but I might have knocked him up."  
***

Dinner was not fun.

They had it by pulling up chairs around the ancient oak table that had been his Great grandfather's, handmade back before The Great Depression. It wasn't anything fancy, just hamburgers, but he felt like everyone was glaring at everyone else. Nala and Max were spending the night with Uncle J'onn. Alura and Jax were at one end of the table, talking quietly with his father about how best to give the 'surprise, you're not actually human' big talk. 

Kon didn't think that Jax's gut instinct was a bad one. Doing everything the opposite of how his dad had done it was fairly smart. Nala was still twelve. It was late enough to wait that she wouldn't tell the wrong people all about them, but not so late as to leave her worried or scared. Alura had figured it out with the Kawatchee's help when she'd just been that age. It really was time.

He sighed, soon then Max and his child. 

Mo and Cassie and Cass were chatting politely but he could see that whatever Cass had said to Mo had tempered his sister. She'd been much more subdued tonight, no horribly transparent matchmaking attempts.

His mom was eating but watching everything with her reporter's eagle eye. Still, he felt that most everyone, especially Alura and Jax, shot looks at him and at his stomach. It was a baby, not a time bomb for Christ's sakes.

When Jax shot him a glance and shivered, Kon set down his spoon of potato salad. "Okay, look this is really awkward."

Alura, being Alura, straightened her glasses and smiled gently at him. "No, it's really not. I just...we had no idea. I didn't think you'd do that, exactly, at least not after that weird miscarriage thing in college because of the mission for the Titans."

"I don't know exactly that I miscarried," he replied, though he suspected he had strongly. "Look, in a day, we'll go see Grandma Lara. She'll give the diagnosis and we'll figure this out okay. No one has to like feel that this makes our confusing family even more confusing."

Jax nodded and looked between him and Cass and Cassie. "Well at least knowing the mom would help simmer things down. We probably shouldn't be here but how can we know and not be in on the wait. I just never thought that you'd, you know, man."

"Get pregnant?"

"Well, yeah, everyone had money on me," he conceded. "But, this is going to speed up what we tell Nala. She's not stupid. It's not hard to do math and know that men don't have the babies, except in the House of El apparently."

"Oh you know you'll be watching Max's virtue like crazy," Mo added. "But, yeah, this does up the hiding the big alien secret a little harder. Isn't Nala young?"

"You were thirteen," Alura said. "I figured it out about Nala's age and just kept quiet. Kon learned too late and went postal---"

"Hey!" he objected.

His mom squeezed his hand. "You did, a stor ."

Jax sighed. "It's time. It's just hard."

Cass and Cassie said nothing but looked both at Kon. Clearly they were thinking about that kind of responsibility hanging over them a dozen years down the line, depending on whose baby it was.

"Well at least the baby isn't half Cruella De Vil," Kon replied. "It's usually easier when Luthors aren't involved."

"Maybe," Jax said. "There are always black spots on family trees."

Alura frowned and stroked the side of Jax's face. "Honey, look---"

He stood up and started gathering the dishes of those who were done. "No it's fine, Lur, just keep talking and we'll figure it out. I'm sure it'll be fine."

His cousin sighed and looked down at her left wrist, at the bracelet that had been her mother's. "Alright, Jax, alright."  
***

He was in the loft trying to avoid way too many people crowding in on him for results. They'd come when they'd come. Jax he understood but he hadn't realized what the other man's father issues was hurting his relationships. It had broken him and Cassie eventually and, though he and Alura loved each other desperately, were as good in their own way as his parents or his Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy had been, the issues were still puttin pressure. Kon could tell that Jax didn't have any interest in ever talking about Dax-Ur with his children if he could avoid it.

"Hey?" Cassie called, tentatively. "Mrs. Kent said I had to bring you a blanket."

"I'm feeling fine. I could sit out in the North Pole and be fine."

She nodded and tossed him the old chenile blanket his grandmother had knitted him seventy years ago almost for his baby shower. "A good mom would insist, even if the baby's going to be ridic invulnerable to temperatures. I don't get cold either and Ice Queen has earned her name."

He nodded. "I know."

"They're beautiful together, you know."

"My parents?"

She shook her head. "Jax and Alura. I...after Jessie was killed, after Jax went so off the deep end, I didn't think any of us could reach him."

Kon sighed. "You and Bruce and Diana and most of the security council with you."

"She saved him. You know she did and Max and Nala really are cute. Stupid feelings deep down or not, I don't begrudge Alura any of what she has. She's the best of all of you."

"She probably is," he agreed. Mo had the wicked concentration of power. He had his father's strengths and Jax, even injured, had a ferocious intelligence that even some of the most gifted of the Lanterns couldn't fathom. Alura had the heart, the quiet soul. She tempered them.

"It's not me, is it?"

"Huh?"

"The way Jax is. For so long I thought it was me, and then I thought maybe Alura was special because she's like him, half and half."

"Well that helps."

"But it's not that. Tonight, I'd never seen either of them so tense. It's not like he has to explain about Lana or something. It's not like the whole League wouldn't go to any length to protect the eight---"

"Nine now."

"Right, all your secrets, no matter what. What is he so afraid of?"

"His dad made Brainiac."

Cassie blinked. "Excuse me?"

"His dad made him. It was a weather monitoring system on Krypton and Zod abused and manipulated it to get it to destroy the planet's crust. His dad never invented it to do anything but help people but the applications it could be used for..."

"Ruined your planet."

"Krypton," he corrected. "Born here, you know? I don't...Krypton's sometimes as real to me as Mt. Olympus is to you. I know it's my heritage but my home's been here since I was born. I love it here. If there were a Krypton or a colony somewhere sprung up like that rumor about Kandor...I'd still not go there. Earth's got a ton going for it."

"No one ever told me about Brainiac and Dax-Ur."

"No one knows but us, the immiediate family and Cass, and she only knows because she was there in the Luthor mansion when they took Jax's powers, the day we were in the middle of so much fallout. Bruce doesn't know."

She sighed. "Why do we all get nervous about it? He's almost a hundred and he's mortal."

"He scares us all because he probably won't ever die anyway," Kon admitted. "Do you really think the rest of the League would let Jax touch a computer or have access to the type of technology he does from the Lantern Corp or the Thanagarians if they knew? Jax is, by far, the most dangerous member of the League and no one even knows it."

She laughed, "He's not!"

Kon sighed and quirked his head at her. "You know he's not a fuck up. We all know that now, the hard way."

"I know."

"He doesn't have our abilities, besides the strength and invulnerability and the TK---which is a hell of a resume anyway---but he has so much more."

"He'd never make a Brainiac."

Kon sighed. "Fourteen years ago? I'd have said never. Alura's about the most important person on the planet. Jax isn't as glued together as we want him to be and he knows how to do so much. Cassie, he was twenty three and was able to learn Kryptonian code from my aunt and 'grandma' fast enough to design a virus to infect and corrupt every computer on Earth. It took him ten days."

She blinked. "Huh."

"He wiped every record everywhere of my family from Lex's files by infecting computers worldwide with an algorithm I can't understand. Aunt Kara can't either and she had the formal education at Kryptonian Academy. He was just a kid. Can you imagine what he could do if he were motivated, without the Fortress even, just on his own?"

"I never thought about it."

"Jax is the smartest person on this planet, possibly in several immediate galaxies. He has so much more than brute strength going for him and he knows how his father thought, the programs you could use to simulate Brainiac. I...it eats him up that his dad built it."

"Yeah, when he was on Krypton, centuries ago and Jax wasn't even a blip!"

Kon sighed and squeezed her hand. "We all have our hang-ups. Some are bigger than others. Everyone worries about me cause my bio-mom was a psycho, I know that. I worry about me, but Jax's House killed Krypton."

"Zod did that."

"Not the way Jax has convinced himself it happened. He can't bear to tell Max and Nala. Christ, how do you tell any twelve year old something like that?"

"But there had to be more his family offered. I just...why didn't he tell us? If we'd known about his dad...so many people always dismissed him."

"You didn't."

"I thought his walls were about me."

"They aren't. I don't even know what they'll end up telling Nala, but it's going to be a lot of arguments between now and then."

She sighed and leaned against the loft window's frame. "Maybe I wasn't made for your family. I know I'm a demi-god, but everything with your family is life and death and interplanetary intrigue. That's a lot to ask."

"I promise not to raise a mini-Zod," Kon replied tiredly. "There's a lot of power here and a lot of pressure that comes with it. Cassie, if you ever feel that any of the six of us are gruff with you or closed off or just out of it, it's not even about you. We're all so fucked up."

She sighed. "I wish I didn't care so much about him. It's been decades. Christ, so why can't I turn this off?"

"We all ask ourselves that too. Immortality is a pain in the ass."

"Get some rest, Kon, at least we won't be in the dark much longer."  
***

Februay 26, 2078 

My child, you've returned and brought so many Lara said. Kal-El, you're home. 

His father blushed and nodded. "Earlier than I thought, Lara, but just in time apparently."

You have no idea, my son. 

Kon frowned. "Grandmother?"

Miss Carpenter, Miss Sandsmark, you are both amazing. 

Cass rolled her eyes indulgently. She liked Lara. Like everyone else, she loathed Jor-El. Still, the way Lara was talking still conveyed the inherent hubris of his other family, the Cassies were amazing because they offered something to add to the El line.

"Lara, I appreciate the sentiments. Do you know the mother?"

Lara laughed. Colloquially, as my children say it, Kon-El is the 'kangaroo.' But you, Cassandra are the other parent. 

Cassie breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against a spire. "Thank god." Thinking better of it, she added. "Oh not that it's not magical, Kon, and I won't be a good aunt. I just---"

Kon sighed and stroked his stomach. "I understand. It's fun not to have the responsibility on your shoulders."

Cassie S. nodded and looked toward his father. "If you send me back, I can let Mo, Jax, and Alura all know. I'm sure they're with baited breath and this has to be a family thing."

His dad nodded. "Sure Cassie, one sec." After a few ministrations on the console, the lights flared in the Fortress and Cassie Sandsmark was gone.

His mother sighed and squeezed not only his hand but Cass's as well. "Lara, I don't even understand. They've conceived before."

I remember when Cassandra was with child. Kon-El, I did not realize until too late. Had I known, I would have objected to his work.

Kon frowned. "So I was in college?"

I can tell from my scan that you've carried before, my child. 

Two now.

They'd had a shot twice to be parents and one more had fallen into their laps. 

Cass swayed a little and his father placed a hand behind her shoulders to steady her. "Twice? We've lost twice?"

The first had little to do with your genetics and everything to do with trauma as far as I can discern, Cassandra. 

"Carter was my fault," Cass added. "Because I'm a mutant and Kon's Kryptonian and that's not a match with all the Kryptonite in me."

As I understand biology, Lara started, not unkindly. Genetics come from both parents. There is no fault. .

Cass was leaning full out on his father now. "Carter died."

I remember and it grieved us. I did not realize. I did not see. 

"So the baby?" his mom asked. "What about this child?"

I do not believe human women, even ones as altered as you and Cassandra are, were ever meant to carry Kryptonian children. Relatively speaking, Kara Zor-El and Alura's pregnancies were easier than Cassandra's turned out to be. Chloe, you understand that you are a non factor by the very nature of your gift. 

She nodded. "I know, but this child."

The first time, trauma killed my great grandchild. The second, it was the genetics but also Cassandra's own ability. A baby cannot grow to term in an environment that cold. If it weren't a Kryptonian child at all, it most likely would not have grown to almost six months. 

Cass was crying now and he was grateful that his dad was holding her, stroking her hair. He wasn't sure she'd have let him do that. "I did do it."

It was as it was. The miracle was that Kar-El got so close to term at all beyond conception. Kon-El is not ill, he is half human, and you do not have a concentration of Kryptonite in your heart, Cassandra. There is a chance that, with Kon-El as the pregnant parent, this time will finally take. 

"Define chance, Lara," his dad said.

85%. Their odds are most favorable, my son, and your son's likelihood of carrying without massive illness is superior to your own. 

Chloe squeezed Cass's hand one more time. "So this could succeed."

Weekly check-ups with me and with the doctors at Watchtower. We shall watch the baby more closely than we ever watched Kar-El. She'll be safe. I will offer everything that I have at my command to see that my great-granddaughter lives. 

Kon frowned. "I'm just eight weeks."

I am the best artificial intelligence in twenty galaxies. Your child is a girl. His "grandmother" laughed. I must admit that since Kal-El has just implanted, even I cannot predict the sex of your coming sibling, Kon-El. 

Kon's eyes went wide and Cass burst out into giggles, standing up from his father. "Grandmother?"

Both of my children can share check-ups, at my insistence. Kal-El, you shall be off duty immediately, no negotiations and the same as before but earlier. As I was informed from Kara that would include feeding tubes and alimentary subsitutitions and transfusions from Chloe Sullivan. 

"I'm what?"

Lara laughed more. How could a machine sound happy? Of course, how could it manage to sound so pissy as Jor-El? My sons, you are growing my family and for this I am most pleased .

Cass looked between him and his dad and then at his mom. "Both of them? At the same time?"

Yes, Cassandra. 

"Oh my, that's gonna get moody."

Chloe grinned a little. "We can weather that."

"Cass," Kon said, reaching for her. "We should talk once we get to the farm."

She nodded but avoided his hand. "I...well, Mrs. Kent, can we do The Talon first alone? I think I might even opt for The Wild Coyote . This is a lot to take in somehow."

"Cass---"

"Soon, Kon, I promise. Let's share all the news at home. I'm sure Mo will be even more excited to learn she's going to finally be a big sister," Cass finished, walking to the portal without looking back at him.  
Back to index  
Chapter 18 by Tobywolf13  
October 2, 2063 - Santa Monica, California 

"Kon," Cass said, curling up against him on the blanket they were sharing on the beach. "I'm tired."

"Well it's ten p.m. and we had a long day, you know."

"With that tidal wave in Taipei, I know. Never rest for a superhero. God, did I really think it'd be all fun and games as a kid?"

Kon laughed and kissed her. "You were demanding entry as a freshman in high school. I think you thought it was Disney World."

"Remind me to kick mini-me's ass. She was an idiot. Thirty plus years in the League and it gets so draining. I love what I do, what we do, but the politics, my god."

He nodded. "Most people don't stay that long. I mean some do, but you know most of my uncles have, well---"

"Aged and moved into advisory capacity. Only Bruce insists on being so ungodly hands on even if it's just by using Terry as his proxy, I know. We could take a lifetime and retire, twenty years off just for the little one."

She sighed. "Kon, we've been engaged for twenty-five years."

"I was aware."

"We really started trying after your bio-mom passed away and Lex stopped deciding our personal misery was his happy place, but we've been doing it like sixteen year olds since college."

"Again, totally knew that."

"Honey, the closest we possibly, maybe ever got was that weird bleeding you had at Pratt."

"Yeah right," he snorted. "It'll come, Cass. We have that schedule thing and we're timing it and---"

"That's why I'm tired. We've been going by Thomkins's schedule for five years. Kon, most couples would have moved onto something else by now."

"You want to adopt?"

"No, maybe we just need to relax and stop trying so hard. And, yeah, maybe after we regroup we could consider adoption. It worked wonders for your grandma and grandpa Jonathan."

He felt cold and he rarely felt that. "You're serious?"

"We've tried and waited for so long. There are a lot of kids out there who need a good home. We could Brangelina it."

"I...I know and dad loved grandma so much."

"Obviously. There was never a more loving dynamic than your grandma and your dad. I don't think blood could have made them a damn bit closer. It just might not be something we were destined to do."

"But we're already out here and having a date and the next inevitable step after that is the, you know."

"You only take me out to the best club in town and to the ocean to bed me? Mr. Kent, I'm shocked!"

Kon laughed and squeezed her tighter. " Mrs. El , give me one more night and then we'll only have sex the way everyone else does, calendar free."

She giggled and kissed him teasingly. "We're in our fifties. We've been technically married for over twenty years. Most couples don't have calendar free sex."

"Most couples don't have supermetabolisms," he countered, peering over his shoulder and then pushing her gently to the sand. "I could do it without a calendar."

"Could you now?"

"Every day, three times a day. You think I don't see how everyone looks at you, Cass? You're beautiful."

"Uh-huh. You're trying to get me to weaken and try again."

He leaned down and trailed kisses across her throat, to her pulse point. "Yeah, I really am, but mostly, the surf, the moonlight, my fiance, waht else do I need to want to go that far?"

"Speaking of. Kon this is the beach outside our house."

"Gated. House." He countered, kissing down her collar bone now, going low on her chest and working his hands behind her dress. She had way too much on.

"What if someone saw us?"

"Superhearing. I promise no one will catch us."

"You'll be, oh god, that's..." she said, bucking under him as he reached under the silk of her dress and started to stroke at her nipples, barely covered by the lacey bra underneath. "Kon!"

He sat up on his elbows and grinned. "Do you want me to stop, really?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."

He smirked and teased her ear lobe a little. He could feel the frost spreading across his skin and noticed how blue her skin was growing. She was getting as worked up as he was. "Make me stop."

She moaned again. "Maybe I don't...okay but if we get caught I am never speaking to you again, Connor Sullivan."

He laughed and started unbuttoning his shirt. "We can't have that happen, can we?"

He made slow work of undressing her, slow kisses first on her exposed skin, tracing the contours of her face and her collar bone. He eased her dress down off of her, let her take her time undoing her bra and her panties. Worked up, he had a tendency to shred her clothes first and asked questions later. She did't like the habit.

They were further into it now, and she was naked beneath him, Kon had his eyes clamped shut and could hear the his of steam coming from his skin wherever she touched him. He was burning hot and she was cold as always, and the mix of sensations left him feeling heady. How humans could ever have sex without this part of it, god they had no idea what they were missing. 

"Kon?" She asked, reaching up to stroke his cheek and he hissed, the chill across his skin causing yet more goosebumps to rise. "Please."

"I know," he said, easing himself into her, letting her take control as he worked to her rhythm. She was threading her fingers through his hair and he could feel everything so exquisitely---the chill of her, the softness of her flesh, the was she tried digging her nails into his back with one hand and stroked his hips with the other. He could hear it, the pounding of the surf, the pounding of their hearts, the gulls over head. 

What he couldn't do was see. He'd give anything to be able to see it live, the look on her face when she came, the way her lips curled when she moaned in pleasure. It was the one thing he could not do. He'd memorized the rhythm of her, of her heart and of the blood pounding through her. Tempered his nose to take in the smell of her, the aroma that was all Cass and all arousal, but whether it was tonight or almost forty years ago, he couldn't open his eyes.

The heat built too hard.

Stretching out his hearing, he found her pulse point on her throat and kissed her. "Cass."

She was moving with him now and he was vaguely aware that they weren't completely on the sand anymore. "God, I love you."

He moved with her then feeling it all---the heat, the cold, the steam, the everything between them. It didn't take much to cum, spilling into her, everything that he was, letting his heat vision finally stream into the sea. Everything a crescendo. As he landed lightly, making sure she was still gripped in his arms, he didn't even move out of her, just lay there, still buried in the deep of her.

She was kissing his forehead. "All out of heat vision?"

"I may owe A.C. some fish damaging money," he admitted, blushing. "Cass---"

"It's a turn on, believe me," she said, running a hand through his hair. "I think you might have a bit of snow on your head though."

He laughed and leaned against her shoulder, well spent. "God what a pair we make."

She nodded and then stilled. "Ow."

"Huh?"

"I...I dunno, something almost, I...like a pinch?"

He blushed more deeply and sat up, pulling the towel over himself. Already he could feel his stomach doing something. He wasn't even sure what. It just felt like that time he'd tried the poprock candy at the planetarium with Coke. It was the formula with a fraction of the normal meteor rock content. It was enough to make his stomach swirl but not to make him vomit. 

"Did I hurt you?"

She sat up and pulled him toward her. "No, I...just something different. It was unexpected was all. It didn't really hurt. Huh, maybe we should mention it to Dr. Thomkins on Monday. See if that's something in your development."

He snorted. "You never even know with us. We have such surprises in the intergalactic kangaroo circus."

She sighed and kissed him. "Kon, it was fine, except for a pinch---and you've seen me cut all to hell in a hundred battles remember---it was actually pretty damn awesome."

"I know, but---"

She kissed hime and did that thing with her tongue and his ear. "No buts, let's see if you can make the sand freeze. I bet you can."

Who was he to argue with that?  
**

May 5, 2063 

He wished that pinch, that whatever it had been had worked the way it was supposed to. Maybe Carter was supposed to have been his to carry, maybe it was never to have been Cass's burden. Maybe he should have taken them to the 'Tower the second it happened or to his grandmother. Maybe it was a fool's errand to have had Cass try bearing their son at all.

Maybe .

"Phoenix," Dr. Thomkins started. "I don't know why you're here now. Ice Queen...Carter was stillborn. I'm sorry you only made it six months. I wish I'd caught something. You have no idea how much I had."

"Nothing to catch but you took my samples. It's the only thing the Watchtower is good for---surgical instruments from all over the galaxy. You've had a month to look over the bloodwork. What happened?"

"I don't know. I just...I swear the baby was smaller than I'd ahve liked but it was fine at five months. I don't know. I have an amazing wealth of experience with working under Dr. Emil before he died. I have a lot of experience with Thanagarians and Martians and the Lanterns and you all, but I just don't know. I don't know why it didn't work."

"What do you think happened?"

"Kryptonian infants age faster than human ones. I know you're only half but I theorize it didn't line up correctly in your son. He was developing like a human child, maybe even more slowly with the meteor rock influence, I don't know, but it was getting to six months and the delivery triggered anyway."

"If a human man were the father?"

"Phoenix, a human man wasn't the father and, please don't be angry with me for pointing this out, but Ice Queen is many things, a normal woman is not one of them."

"But who did it?"

"Do you want to blame Ice Queen? That's not like you," Dr. Thomkins countered, leaning back at her desk. "Connor, sometimes people aren't compatible. We all thought that Carter was you both beating the odds after twenty years, but maybe it just wasn't going to happen."

"If the father were human..." he pressed.

"Phoenix, you were the father and the baby died. It's all I can tell you."  
***

He knew it was wrong the moment he slipped the ring on. He knew it. It was an old one, held in a case next to championship trophies and other meaningless crap in Smallville High. His mom and dad didn't even know it was there. He stole it easily, slipping it on and finally, blissfully, after a month feeling nothing at all.

He shouldn't have with Cass. They didn't fit like he thought. If he'd just been human, he could give her a child. If he could be normal...Kon sped off from the school and out to Los Angeles. It wasn't late at all on the West Coast and he just was going to be normal this once.  
***

Normal men who got caught cheating, got into monumental shouting matches, it turned out.

Cass came home. 

Cass came home after being in Berkley for weeks. 

She came home and found him with a very hungover blonde in his bed. (Hungover was best for him. She'd been too drunk to notice the part where his ceiling was singed a bit.)

"Cass! I can explain!"

The girl---fuck if he even knew her damn name---was up then, stammering something about it not being worth it before shoving on her clothes and walking out, cellphone already dialing her friend in the Valley.

Cass didn't say a word, just waited for the girl to leave, and started grabbing her suitcase from inside their walk in. "Lur dropped me off. I thought we could talk. I guess I was wrong. How long have you been sleeping with her?"

"I don't even know her name!"

Cass flinched but started shoving underwear and socks in the bag. "I see how it is. Is that a red K ring on your dresser."

"Cass, I can explain."

"To me," she said, deadly calm. "It looks like you shut me out, got high, and fucked a random woman in our bed. What is it that I'm missing? How long have you been doing this?"

"Last night. I just did it the once."

She started tossing in her jeans. "Does that make it better?"

"I..." he said, starting to get up and blushing when he realized he was naked. Speeding, he slipped on jeans and an ancient Crows t-shirt. "I love you."

"You haven't acted like it," she said, starting in on t-shirts. How could you do this?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough," she said, reaching for the bracelet on her wrist. She slipped it off and tossed it to the mattress corner nearest him. "Take that fucking thing back. I don't want it. I come home to try and work on this mess since Carter...I come home and you have another woman in our bed. I think that's enough grounds for a divorce!"

"No, the bracelet's for you."

"I don't want it to be for me. If you won't take it, I'll give it to Fawkes myself."

"I can't take it."

She shook her head and snatched it back up. He reached for her wrist but dropped it when she started flailing and pulling against him. He didn't want her to yank her shoulder out of the socket. She knew he'd drop her when she did that sort of thing.

"Keep it. It's for you."

"There can't be a True One when some whore just left. God, Connor, do you ever ever think of anyone but yourself?"

"I was thinking of you!"

"How?" she demanded, slamming her suitcase shut, the bracelet inside of it. He winced seeing her wrist naked for the first time in twenty years. "How is this you thinking of me?"

"Carter...he died because we're not normal---"

She stilled and he started to shiver. "I don't think fucking the first piece of gutter trash you drag home from downtown is going to get you a normal kid, Kon. God, you're disgusting!" she said, turning on her heels, dragging her suitcase behind her. "I just...I can't even."

"No I mean me. I'm not. I---"

She snorted and grabbed the keys for her spare car off the hook. "You seem pretty fucking normal. You're not exactly doing great endorsement for your sex."

"Cass, don't go!" and now the walls were shaking. It was a good thing they didn't usually fight or they wouldn't have a house.

"Give me one reason to stay."

"I love you."

She sighed and started to the garage. "No, no you don't."  
***

February 26, 2078 - Kent Farm 

Mo's eyes were wide. "Dad?!? Dad's pregnant too?"

His father blushed. 

It mildly amused him how different his dad was to the world. For over fifty years, his dad wasn't just a superhero, he was the Superhero. For all his Aunt Diana's prowess or his Uncle Bruce's legend in Gotham, for everything his siblings and he did on their own, there just wasn't anyone who had captured the public imagination like Superman had.

And yet, his father, the, ahem, most virile and powerful of superheroes was also someone completely different at home. He wasn't shy, exactly, but he was quiet and thoughtful, still, after the number his bitch bio-mom had done on him, unsure of himself. He blushed so brightly and tended to defer at least in family matters to his mom's ideas. Fawkes ran the Kent household and always had.

Oh and that whole pregnancy thing.

That wasn't really that supermanly.

Kon groaned and touched his own stomach. In about two months with his mom and Cass and Mo and his 'grandma' and Dr. Thomkins all watching, he'd start to show and then life as he knew it was so over.

Alura smiled with all the grace she must have inherited from her namesake for certainly it wasn't his aunt's. "Uncle Kal, that's really fantastic. I thought you'd been out of town?"

He blushed more deeply. "I was. I just...I got home and apparently the Fortress has really good tecnology and I just, uh, there was implanting and Lara read it."

Mo squealed. "So just so I have this straight. Kon and Cass are having a little girl and you and mom are totally expecting."

"It's too little even for the Fortress to have a hope of telling," his dad clarified.

"Wow, that's a lot of babies starting in about six months. That's unreal!" Sometimes he didn't understand Mo's extended adolescence but maybe preparing to be a big sister would help distract her from being so meddling with him and Cass.

Maybe.

Jax looked green. "So you and the squirt? At the same time? All waddling and out to here and with the mood swings?"

"I am not that moody pregnant," his dad corrected huffily. "Also, I don't tend to waddle or gain as much weight with Chloe's kids."

His mom smiled a little with how he'd phrased that. "Have you been breeding other humans somewhere off in the distance?"

"No, I just mean, that it's very hard to keep weight on when it's a half-meteor infected mom."

Mo frowned. "I don't understand."

His mom leaned forward and squeezed her hand. "Sweetie, you made your dad pretty sick because of how much concentrated meteor rock is in our hearts. When the little one gets big enough, your dad will have reactions to that. It makes it very hard for him to keep food down, especially with transfusions."

"Huh?"

Alura frowned thoughtfully. "I remember. Uncle Kal was really sick. He got so thin."

"I'm here! It must have been fine."

"Well once your own immune system kicked in at about four months and you started healing on your own about five months in, he felt much better. It's just that in the beginning all the Kryptonite in his system is very rough. He'll need a feeding tube and transfusions of my blood to help the little one stay viable."

"How sick are we talking?" Mo asked, confused. No one had ever explained how hard she'd been to bring into the world. She knew dad had been sick. Kon had mentioned it to her the night he'd recounted his time with the Luthors for her to keep her mind occupied and off of her X-ray vision. He just hadn't mentioned how ridiculously gaunt his father had gotten or, frankly, how close he must have come to dying. His mom and dad had put up a good front, but his dad had spent at least three months looking like immortal hell, maybe a bit longer.

"Passably. It's very hard for a Kryptonian to have a child. Aunt Kara had to have special care from me with Alura and your father has always had extra things to help him."

"Alura did fine with Nala and Max," Mo countered, confused.

Kon was glad Cassie had left from the farm before they'd come home. This was something hard and scary, for family. 

"Alura and Jax are both half-human and half-Kryptonian. They match," his mom said.

"We match," his father objected, leaning over and kissing her. "It's just hard on Kryptonians because, well, frankly, you know how you and Kon don't actually have belly buttons?"

"Or me," Alura added, amused.

Mo nodded and Cass frowned. "Really?"

Alura laughed. "Jax has one from his mom. But yeah, I thought you knew. It's part of why we're modest in uniform or at the beach. It looks funny."

"Well I knew Kon, obviously. I guess I never thought about your or Mo."

"It's a thing," Kon defended, not that it was the tip of his weirdity iceberg. "Mo, Max and Nala had an umbilical cord for the bulk of their nutrients and blood supply. My little girl would because that's what humans have. Kryptonians have a system of a thousand or more veins feeding into the baby. It causes bleedouts. They're fatal."

"Now I'm really confused. You're sitting right here and so's Alura. Me too!"

"Mom saved me and dad, as well as Alura and Aunt Kara when it was time. When I was six, mom 'had to go away' and Aunt Kara 'was sick' for a while but that just meant that she helped be the extraterrestrial CPR. But you're special."

"Aren't I always?" she said, tiredly, her enthusiasm dampened. 

"Your dad has to get through the first few months until the baby's healing kicks in, then he'll feel better. When you were born, we went to the Fortress and it wasn't fun," his mom conceded.

"It hurt like Hell," his dad clarified.

"However, you closed all the veins up like they were supposed to be closed up. When it's just a human parent, it doesn't close at all. When it's one of mine, well, once you get past almost rejecting a forming Kryptonite-based heart, it's really easy."

Mo paled. "Dad's gonna be okay, right? And the baby?"

"Sweetheart, you're sitting right here. I promise you that your father will pull through. It's just not going to be straight forward like with Alura's children."

"And Kon?"

Cass reached out and squeezed his hand and he relaxed a little. "I...Carter didn't make it because I can't...my body temperature runs too cold to bring a child to term. If Carter had been a human, 100% no meta in him baby, he'd never have even started growing. Our little girl, her growing in Kon, is the best we can hope for. Lara said it was 85% likely he'd get to term just fine."

"But a one in six chance he won't," she replied, still thougtful. "What do we do?"

"Your father and brother are on immediate lockdown as far as doing things. No chores with powers, no anything strenuous at all for your father until your sibling's immunity kicks in on its own. No patrolling, off from work."

"Well everyone can come home. We have enough space, though it might be time to expand for a bigger nursery," Mo conceded. "I meant more League wise. It's a lot to have Superman, Superwomen and Phoenix all out for months at a time."

It was his dad and mom's turn to look confused. "Kara's on leave?"

Alura sighed and leaned into Jax. "Mo, you don't have to."

"No, we need to think this out rationally. Three of the biggest hitters for the JLA can't be on duty for the better part of a year. I'm not saying that the others can't handle it or that arrangements can't be made but half of us just sidelined at once is serious. It's something people have to really think about and we have to think about it now, cards on the table."

Now that was the know-it-all he knew was in Mo.

His dad frowned. "I don't understand. Why is Kara on leave? She's not sick. I know Jimmy's getting up there---"

"He's almost ninety, Clark," Jax reminded, quietly.

"I know but she didn't say anything."

"Dad has dementia," Alura clarified. "Mo dropped by unannounced to go on patrol with mom and she saw it. The whole apparating from out of nowhere scared dad to death because he doesn't remember ever being in on the Kryptonian things. It's getting bad. Mom needs to take care of him. I...we took him to a specialist at Harvard about six weeks ago. They don't even know what it is."

"Excuse me?" his mom asked. "You said dementia. I just assumed..."

Alura's voice was unsteady as she spoke. "It's not Alzheimer's and it's not completely like typical patterns of dementia. So much of it seems to glitch in and out around the time before Kon was conceived. Like he just flashes back to about then and thinks it's now . I mean, sometimes he's lucid, but it's not often, and the scans...it's unique."

Cass looked at his cousin and studied her more closely. "So it's different than anything else?"

"I mean it's still...he still is very confused and it still isn't going to get anything but worse, but technically it's not associated with markers for dementia or Alzheimer's, no plaque on the brain." Alura stilled then and hugged Jax closer. "They think he has a year at most. Mom's really not up to anything emotionally. We should have told you all earlier but I don't think she wanted to admit for the longest time it was happening, that it was time."

"We all know, don't we," Mo started, "that Uncle Jimmy asked you not to intervene with the Fortress, that he asked you to put him on the DNR list with Grandma Lara."

His dad nodded. "I promised and we did it at the renewals but we can go back and---"

His mom sighed. "Jimmy wanted this. He gets to have it. We don't or we have to wait a lot longer. We didn't just jump in with the Fortress when your mom had her stroke or when Lois was dying in the ICU. We agreed long ago to learn to let our human family go."

Jax looked away and Kon tried hard not to stare at him. He didn't have a human family left, except for distant relatives of his stepdad's and Jessie's widower. There wasn't love lost between Jax and his sister's husband. 

Why would there be?

Jessie and her daughters had been murdered to get to Jax, when his identity had been compromised.

"Jax, sweetheart," Alura said softly, kissing his cheek. "No one meant that---"

"I know, but yeah his is what her dad wanted when he was still lucid. We just have to talk over with the League security council and figure out how to compensate. This is just a tense El family time."

Alura kissed him again. "It's a tough all of us time."

"Right," he added. "So we'll just have to plan harder. We really need to relieve J'onn now and get back the munchkins. Clark?"

"Yeah, Jax?"

"I...we're still working out how to tell Nala. I think we should shoot for the first of May. Kon will be showing by then and you'll be going through the tranfusions. It'll be hard to explain to her but she can't see what you and Kon are about to do and not get she's more than a meteor mutant."

"Agreed," his mother answered and she was all Fawkes efficiency then. "And Max?"

"I honestly don't know," Alura answered. "I was almost ten when Uncle Kal started to show. I knew to keep my mouth shut about things to the rest of the world. Max is very young. I don't think he can understand about even having a pregnant set of uncles."

"We'll come up with something. Max doesn't have his hearing," Kon offered. "He's not going to know that we're more than sick if we don't tell him. He still thinks there's a cabbage patch."

"True," Alura replied. "I hate lying about this to him, but he just can't understand it yet."

Kon sighed and looked at his sister and cousins. It hurt. It hurt to know things were off and not be told why, but it hurt worse to know you weren't completely real. It'd hurt worst of all if Max said something to the wrong person and got taken. This was for the best, but it didn't make him feel any less dirty agreeing to it. 

"Okay, got it. So when you need to work out a plan of attack for telling Nala, you all just come out here. This is definitely going to be the center for everything. Mom says I have to move my stuff from San Francisco here."

"Definitely," his mom said. "Cass, we have spare bedrooms. I know you have a life and a case in D.C. that's pending."

"It'll take time in hearings at the Supreme Court. I can give it to the firm's partner. I don't want to---"

"You shouldn't have to because I fucked up," Kon conceded.

"No, I'll see what my associates can do. I want to be here every day for this. We only got six months with Carter, barely. If...I want to be here for her."

No one said anything for a long time. It was his dad who finally spoke, his voice brimming with authority and patience. "Cass, we'd love to have you stay. Mo will help you move your things in the guest room on the other side of ours."

Translation: As far from Kon's room as possible.

"And I can help you in a few days, man," Jax added. "We'll just get everyone settled here."

His mom stood up as Alura and Jax did and walked them to the back door. "Alura, honey, if your mom would like to bring Jimmy here. He liked the farm an awful lot."

Alura almost lost it right then and Jax wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her. "Mom doesn't...I'll run the offer by her but she doesn't want people to see him like this. I don't think dad would have wanted you all to see him like this either. We'll think about it."

His mom nodded and she hugged his cousin tight. "Whatever you need. I know we promised we'd let him go, but whatever you and your mom need, alright?"

Alura sniffled and took Jax's hand. "I'll ask you, I promise."

His sister made her excuses and followed them out shortly after.  
***

February 28, 2078 

He found Cass in her room. Mo'd moved her in yesterday. He'd been told not to help. It was stupid. He was at eight weeks and could lift a skyscraper. He didn't feel sick at all and he probably wouldn't. He didn't think moving a few suitcases would be too hard for him. But they were all determined to do whatever it took to relieve pressure and stress from him and from their daughter.

He and dad even had their first appointments with Dr. Thomkins---not that there was much she could do for his dad with human science---this coming week.

This was his third shot to have a child with Cass. They'd lost two children between them; he would not allow a third. He just hoped the DNA would line up correctly this time, that if something went wrong that, if it got to that, then Mo or his mom could save this baby.

"Cass, hey, dad made steak. He cooks when he's nervous and with his own stuff going on, it looks like Thanksgiving downstairs. He made four types of pie."

She laughed. "Alright, good, sounds healthy."

"Well there's salad and corn and green beans too."

He frowned and leaned over her shoulder. "What are you researching. I thought your partners had your case."

"They do. Kon, I don't know how to tell you this."

"If you're going to leave me and the baby, moving in is a very confusing signal."

Cass punched him on the shoulder and he rolled with the motion. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Have you met me? Sitting on the great conspiracy of our age. Who is Superman? ," he intoned. "I think I can. Is it a bad thing?"

"I don't know yet."

"Is this about the baby and us? Cause I know...I just want us to work out what's best for her, okay?"

She sighed and patted the back of his hand. "No, actually it's about your aunt and uncle."

"I don't understand."

She turned around and showed him her tablet. "I've pulled a few articles. I'm not Fawkes. I can't hack medical records in a single bound but I can trace obits and a few things. I have my own sources in Lowell County and around."

"So this is a mutant thing?"

"No skim," she said, handing him what she'd found.

Most of the names were of doctors who'd died decades back---Meyers, Schwartz, a Dr. Russel. One was from about the time Mo was in high school, a doctor and professor emeritus at MIT named Leibowitz. All had suffered from indeterminate cause of dementia.

"Okay? I dont understand."

She sighed and flipped to the final entry on the tablet. 

This name he did recognize. Kevin Winter . Mo'd almost gotten engaged to him in college. She'd have married him in a heartbeat but when she told him about what they were, he'd freaked out. She'd had to have his Aunt Kara Lethe him.

For whatever reason, The Kiss of Lethe, as his Uncle J'onn called it, was an ability that his father had ever developed. In fact only his aunt and cousin Alura could do it, erase months' worth of memories with a single kiss. They didn't do it often because it violated free will big time, but sometimes their secret and their own protection outweighed everything else.

Kevin had died that previous fall. He'd only been fifty-five, but he suffered the same symptoms as the doctors Cass had found.

"Wow, can't say I'm sorry. That guy was horrible."

"No, Kon, you don't get it. Those doctors? They were your doctors at ISIS. Dr. Liebowitz was the one in charge of experimenting on Jax when Lex took him. You know what your aunt did to Kevin cause Mo begged her to to save you all. It's her ability, Kon. The Kiss of Lethe has long term effects to human memories. It eats through everything eventually."

Kon gaped at her. "My aunt would never hurt Uncle Jimmy like that."

"I'm not saying she did but she had to learn to use it, you know. Fawkes mentioned once that your aunt accidentally took his short term memory just making out with him until she realized what she was doing. Alura did it too as a teenager just kissing him on the cheek until they figured out what she was doing and helped her harness it summer after her junior year. No one meant to hurt him and he's mortal either way, but this isn't just anything. It's prolonged use of Lethe on someone."

"I...it can't be," he handed the tablet to her. "How did you even think to make the connection?"

"Reporter for decades, hello?"

"They can never know. We haven't had a scare like this since Kevin, frankly. Alura's never used her powers on anyone except accidentally on her dad and to practice on mom and nothing hurts mom anyway."

"Basically."

He sighed and glared at the computer. "Cass, never tell Alura and Aunt Kara. It'll kill them."

"I know, I know, believe me. Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"What about Nala or Max? What about our daughter?"

"Huh?"

"You never got this one, but it's somewhere in that mishmosh. I don't even...how do you prepare to teach a kid to get a million and one superpowers. We don't even know if she makes it what mine will look like in her. I mean, I'm so much more than my dad was and that's just from one generation to the next. How do we teach her how not to cause permanent brain damage just kissing a boy she likes?" Cass teared up then and he was grateful she let him. "I don't know how to teach someone to fly or move things with a thought."

"I don't know how to freeze through locks with a touch or make ice sculptures with my hands. It does even out you know."

"I...it's overwhelming. How did your parents do this? How did your Grandma Martha and Grandpa Jonathan?"

"We can figure something out. I really don't think she'd get this one if dad and I can't do it or Mo."

"Yeah but she'll get a dozen other things. What if we screw this up?"

"We won't," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "We have enough mistakes between us. We're going to make this one work and she's going to grow up happy and healthy and perfect."

"Hope so, Kon. I hope so."  
Back to index  
Chapter 19 by Tobywolf13  
December 10, 2023  
Kon rolled his eyes and focused his attention on his Gameboy. His dad was a little over four months, skinny as a rail, and looked like immortal Hell. There were probably zombies out there (if they were real) who had more meat on their bones than he father did. Technically, Mo was growing into her powers quickly enough that the transfusions would no longer be necessary. His dad probably had two to three weeks left of that to go and maybe he’d actually start gaining wait instead of losing it. Seriously, in all of Kon’s life, he’d never seen his dad even remotely this small. Even his Uncle Jimmy or Uncle Bart were beginning to look more broad shouldered.

Dr. Emil sighed as he looked over at Kon’s Gameboy. “Ghost, Fawkes, I see the same filial enthusiasm as ever in young Connor.”

His dad blushed as he lay back against the chair, readying himself for the needle and Chloe’s blood. “Really, it’s okay to not have codenames around here. It just sounds stupid in a prenatal check-up.”

Dr. Emil nodded and slid the needle into his father’s arm. His dad hissed at first but then relaxed as the liquid began to enter him. “I thought it would be polite, Clark. Also, I don’t trust Fawkes not to take my head off, if I’m less than cordial.”

Chloe chuckled and took his dad’s hand. “I’ll let you slide with it, Emil. I mean you remember me from before I was even close to front line material. What a difference hand-to-hand with Bruce and Oliver can make.”

“True. Clark, how are you feeling?” the doctor continued. “I see you’ve all done well keeping the tube clean and your weight’s maintaining finally.”

“Yeah. I feel okay. I just wish Mo’s immune system would come online already. It’s really hard to want to eat when half the week, you can’t keep anything down.”

Chloe flinched and Kon shrugged. That’s what happened when you tried for random breeding between whatever the fuck they were and mutants. It wasn’t going to work out well, although, it was worrying even him how weak his father was. It was just so unnatural, relatively speaking.

“Soon, I’m sure. Mo’s getting so big,” she chirped, stroking back his bangs. “Kon, a stor, would you like to see the sonogram for the week?”

“X-ray vision, Chloe. I didn’t want to see it last week. I don’t want to see it this week and I don’t want to see it next week. In fact, assume I just don’t want to look.”

“You’re lucky we’re a household that doesn’t take people over our knee,” she quipped.

“Active superpower,” he huffed. “Chloe, seriously, I came right? What more do you want out of me?”

“A little attention to your father---“

“The kangaroo,” he countered.

“To your father,” she corrected, “Would be nice, Connor Sullivan. Besides, you might want to take notes.”

“Huh?”

Despite his professionalism, Emil chuckled a little. “Well put, Fawkes.”

Chloe glared at him. “You never know what runs in this family.”  
**

March 9, 2078 (Nine and a half weeks)  
Kon didn’t go to the ‘Tower in civvies often. In fact, the only time he ever went out of uniform was when he and Cass had come for her OB/GYN appointments while she’d been pregnant with Carter. Most League members never wore anything but costume in front of each other. Newer members didn’t even have access to full identities of the main roster. It was all a lot of complicated security measures. Bruce’s identity had always been on a need to know basis, as had his Uncle Oliver’s while he’d been alive. He understood, in turn, why newer members to the League, which was quite large now, would be leery to have their secrets out to individuals they didn’t know outside of emergency capacity.

His family didn’t factor into that. There were J’onn, Shayera, and The Lantern Corps, whose real identities had never been a secret to the League. Diana and Cassie both had little to worry about their ties to Themyscira and “Greek Culture” being spread around. The Kent Clan was the same way. His father had helped found the JLA—then just the Justice Bros.---over seventy years ago and, even as codenames and costumes came and went, Clark Kent was still a fixture of the League, perhaps the fixture along with Fawkes. Kon had grown up with it, with a myriad of aunts and uncles first and then with kids coming up through the ranks to mentor himself. 

It was what it was. Everyone in the Watchtower knew who Phoenix or The Flamebird or Superman really were and, sometimes, depending on his dad’s mood or his aunt’s mercurial nature, the League at large might just spy a Krytponian in casual wear. 

Like now.

Kon wanted to hold Cass’s hand. It was a stupid instinct. There was nothing that was going to hurt from a blood draw or from a sonogram. He’d had a few infections over the years patrolling the galaxy and dimensions in between. He’d had needles and tests before. He could deal with a little pin prick for whatever baselines Dr. Thomkins needed. It was just that he wasn’t overly fond of it. He was, in no way, no matter what Mo and Jax said, a wuss about things.

Still, while he and Cass were talking and were holding steady for the baby’s benefit, they weren’t in a hand holding place right now. Instead, he reached out and took his mom’s hand. She was already holding his dad’s. 

Fawkes frowned back at him. 

His mom always wore uniform, no matter what. He thought it was overcompensation for not being physically imposing. Her outfit, long ago modeled after Bruce’s own, at least as far as Kevlar and cowl were concerned, definitely gave her a presence. She was just too short and slight otherwise to stand out the way his Aunt Dinah once had or his Aunt Diana did now. 

“Connor, you can’t possibly be nervous.”

He gulped as they neared the sick bay. “No, I just don’t think needles are all that fun.”

Cass grinned and patted his back. “Kon, I didn’t know you had needle-phobia.”

“I don’t! I just...” he said, pulling his hand out of his mom’s gauntlet. “…the suck.”

“Oh man, if you don’t like blood draws you’re really going to hate your life about six months from now.”

He sighed as they crossed through the threshold into the medical area and set down his jacket. Rolling up his sleeves, he lay down on one of the four available exam tables. “I am not afraid of pain. I’m a superhero, okay. I do all sorts of scary, dramatic, world-saving stuff on a monthly basis. A few needles and childbirth doesn’t scare me.”

His father smiled a little as he assumed a similar position on the table across from him. “Apparently,” he added, his tone far too glib. “Hips dislocate for this. I know you spent part of Mo’s birth passed out on the Fortress floor.”

Kon shuddered. “I remember you screamed a lot and broke three fingers.”

“Your mom fixed it.”  
“That doesn’t really make it better,” Kon rejoined. 

“It’s not pleasant,” his dad agreed. Kon frowned at him. “What?”

“You are way too happy. I mean, I know you and mom have been all giggly teenager over yet another Kent kid.”

Cass chuckled as his mom undid her cowl and set it aside. “Are you going to be jealous again?”

“No, I just…my hearing and way too happy!” Kon admitted, blushing. “But dad’s not usually this jovial. It’s not your nature, dad.”

“No this is imminently amusing to me. You were such an unbearable snot---“

“Asshole, Mr. Kent, you can say it. Kon was a flaming asshole,” Cass corrected, pulling up a chair next to him and, unsolicited, placing her hand on his stomach. 

“Hey!”

“You were,” all three voices echoed.

“But, buddy, you really should have paid more attention last time, maybe kept a notebook,” his dad added.

“You’re going to be on me for the next six months. I mean this could be complicated or treacherous or painful!”

Cass sighed and stroked his stomach. “We’re not excited for something potentially dangerous. We just all think Karma is amazing, Connor Sullivan, cause if anyone has ever earned this.”

“Besides,” Dr. Thomkins said, entering into the room, Jax, of all people, trailing behind her in a lab coat. “I don’t think that you’re going to have the kind of difficulties your father had. I sincerely don’t. On this, Lara and I agree.”

Kon frowned. “Hey, uh, Jax. Is Alura here too?”

Jax shook his head and started to wash his hands. “Training.”

“Huh? I thought you were finishing your residency in neurosurgery.” Kon peered over his stomach and down south. “This is not the brain.”

“No, but I did a rotation in human obstetrics and I’ve been working with Dr. Thomkins since I graduated. She’s great and Dr. Emil was great but it might be good to have someone who’s long lived that has some expertise in this. I mean one day for Nala---“

“She’ll be traumatized!” Cass objected.

“Well, that’s a flaw, obviously, but there are other Leaguers of various species who don’t have a Fortress to go to for all medical needs. It made sense for one of us to pick this up so we don’t have a lull in between the next human doctor with a specialty to pop up. I’ve been working on this for several years, really, I’ve thought it out.”

“But you didn’t go into human obstetrics,” Kon countered.

“No, that’s not terribly interesting. Brain surgery I like, has some challenge to it. You’ve seen one baby pushed on out, seen them all basically in the human set. Now when you get to metas and aliens, you get a lot more crossover.”

“Are you talking about me clinically all of a sudden and I have so many reservations about you poking at me.”

“I am a professional and it’s not like you’re far along down there.”

“Jax, sweetheart,” his mom said. “Why don’t you let Dr. Thomkins take lead for Kon. If you want to practice, then you can start with just helping Clark’s blood draws.”

Jax nodded. “I have helped assist already with a Thanagarian, you know. Also, one of the Lantern’s nieces is expecting and she’s from Rigel Seven and fell hard for a human. I’m not completely out of my depth as Dr. Thomkins’s assistance. Besides, you have a couple of extra rugrats, Kon, and you’ll be glad in a century or six that I’m around.”

Cass stiffened but kept stroking his stomach. “We should just try getting through everything with this baby before we plan a great Carpenter-Kent dynasty, but the sentiment is probably smart. It would make sense to have a meta OB/GYN who actually lives a meta lifespan. No offense, Allison.”

“None taken,” Dr. Thomkins replied. “Clark, considering you’re what? Maybe two weeks? Nothing sonogram related today but we’d like to start blood draws and just hormone testing. Nothing strenuous. I’m sure Lara’s correct but we want to start your own medical file here too. I think we’re all agreed two places are better than one.”

His mom nodded and took his dad’s hand. It occurred to Kon that he and Cass were basically mirroring his parents. Weird. “Whatever both my boys need, doctor.”

“Chloe, I can do the blood draw. That’s incredibly basic.” Jax said. “Nothing complex.”

Clark shook his head. “We’ll talk about what we do and later because I think it’s great that you’re into expanding your, um, horizons, but some things can never be unseen, you know?”

“I’m a professional!” he objected taking out a syringe and undoing the wrapping on the needle. “Alright, small sting, ready?”

His dad nodded and hissed a little when the needle slid in and the blood began to flow. “It’s just, think about it this way. I still sometimes think of you as an eight year old. I just…I’d be much more comfortable if at some stages Dr. Thomkins or J’onn did the work. But you can do stuff that doesn’t require, you know…”

Cass giggled and moved her hand as Dr. Thomkins spread gel over his stomach. It felt so gloopy. “Peeking down south?”

“Basically, yes,” his dad explained. “We’ll just talk about it.”

Jax deflated a little but pulled the needle out delicately and wrapped his dad’s elbow. “Okay but I’m very competent.”

“You don’t need to Tom Sawyer him, honey,” his mom replied, her tone warm. “It’s just a very private area.”

Kon sighed and laid his head back. “This is one of the weirder days of my life and that’s really saying quite a lot.” Although, as awkward as this was, and as no way in Hell a chance was it that Jax would do more than clean his stomach off during ultrasounds, it was an odd relief. The whole discussion had been jovial and amused Cass enough to take some of the tension and relationship angst between them to a minimum.

Dr. Thomkins nodded and took the vial from Jax with one hand. After she’d set it down, she brought the wand to Kon’s stomach. “I won’t even kid myself into thinking that most of your family hasn’t sneaked a peek at the baby, Phoenix, but I am assuming that Fawkes and Ice Queen would enjoy being let in on the fun.”

Cass held his hand and peered closer to the monitor. Beside her, his mom also leaned over. “He and Mo have been talking it up. Apparently there are fingers coming along well.”

Kon nodded and looked to the monitor. “Can you see her?”

Cass’s breath caught at first, while his mother oohed and awed. “A stor, she’s very cute.”

“Yeah, and everyone and the internet and Lara all promised the webbed finger thing is just a human development quirk so I’m really excited about that.” He offered. There was something surreal about seeing it on the monitor. With his own eyes it seemed more immediate, more true to life, but this was the only way his mom and his…well, Cass, had to experience it. He wished he could share the superior way with them but it wasn’t their gift. “Cass?”

Her eyes were watering and she sniffled. Squeezing his hand gently she added, “You’re right, Fawkes. She’s amazing.”  
**  
He knocked at her door and waited patiently for Cass to answer. They’d been home from the Watchtower for a few hours and she’d been locked away there, looking over the pictures that Dr. Thomkins had printed out for her. She hadn’t said a word all the way home in the Javelin. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking.

“Cass?”

“One sec!” she called, and when she opened the door, he had to chuckle. It was only ten p.m., but she was already dressed for the night in a pair of yoga pants and a Crows t-shirt that swallowed her whole. 

He gulped and blinked back the itch in his eyes upon realizing it had been his. “Hey.”

Looking down, she blushed. “It was the first thing at the top of my pile when I got out of the shower. If you want it back...”

“Clearly, I’ve not wanted it in fifteen years. Looks good on you, keep it.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I feel really sexy.” He blanched and she rephrased that. “I mean, I just don’t look so awesome right now.”

He shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, you already knocked me up so we know I’m easy.”

“Funny,” she said, shutting her door behind her, making sure everything stayed nice and public. “Did you need something?”

“No, not really. You were just quiet and I wasn’t sure what you were thinking.”

“A lot of things,” she admitted, sliding down the door to sit cross-legged in front of it and waiting for him to follow suit. “I never thought I’d see that again, ever. I thought that I was done ever being close to being a mom, especially with you. I keep thinking she’s beautiful and this is amazing and scary and I’m not going to be ready in six months and just weird things.”

“Jax, Lara, and Dr. Thomkins are all very insistent on no webbed fingers.”

“Not that, dummy,” she chided, grazing her fingers across his wrist and making goose bumps rise. 

“Well the tail’s already gone,” he offered, winking.

“Har-har.”

“What kind of ‘weird things?’ Um, this isn’t any like weirdness over it being half-alien is it?”

“Apparently, the Kryptonian side is not the side to worry about. If I’d known, how stupid was I to think that anything could grow here,” she lamented, bringing her hand to her stomach. 

Kon sighed and kissed the top of her head. “He did grow there and he matters. Cass, I wish to god we’d realized so you and Carter, so we all didn’t have to go through that. Nothing’s wrong with you, and Dr. Thomkins and Lara are both pleased so far and I feel fine and you don’t ever have to feel badly, okay? Mom couldn’t have Mo and she can’t carry the new baby. Grandma Martha couldn’t have dad. She liked to say he found her.”

Cass smiled. “I know, and I just…I am so sorry.”

“Lara told me us both there’s no fault in it. It’s genetics and how things lined up. I don’t know why the second time around with Carter it wasn’t me carrying him. Obviously, your ability makes it hard for you---“

“Impossible,” she countered bitterly.

“Well then it’s a good thing we, uh…that there’s a Kryptonian Kangaroo in your life.”

“I know. I just am so confused. I was holding your hand and watching her on the monitor and it was like almost fifteen years ago and we’re back like we were. I know we’re not, but when we’re in that room together and that little life is all that matters, things are easier. It’s be the helpful mom and concerned parent, listen to the doctor. I can do that.” 

“You do it well.”

“And then I leave that room and it’s not easy at all because even if it feels in some ways like fifteen years never passed, they did. I’m not overstepping my boundaries am I? I mean if touching you in the exam room is too intimate---“

“I’d let you know, I promise you that. We could get a safe word.”

She snorted. “Kon!”

“No, that came out wrong.”

“I’ll say.”

“Look, we need to not feel like every time we even touch hands or something we’ve committed some weird personal space invasion. I like having you support me at visits and I’m not so selfish to think that you won’t want to touch me, my stomach I mean. Mom’s always addicted to it when dad’s pregnant, Aunt Kara said so. She was like magnetted to me from day one and you know she was that way with Mo. If that’s something you need to do to make sure that she’s healthy, then that’s fine. I get my stomach became public property.”

She nodded. “And I know you’ve been polite about hugging me with my own little freakouts or, even better, sometimes letting Mo or your fam handle me. I get that too. I don’t mind little things. I just…if I get too weird touching you, or if it’s too familiar, just let me know.”

“Wallaby.”

“Huh?”

“I…” he started, blushing. “Okay that sounds stupid.”

“No do tell,” she asked, smirking up at him. “Wallaby is it?”

He shrugged. “I’m a kangaroo. It seemed to fit. That’s the deal, Ms. Carpenter. We’re here to try and help her and make sure she gets here. I like when you’re near me at appointments. You sometimes need a hug. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not trying to put the moves on you.”

“You’re not?” she asked, and did she sound disappointed?

“I’m trying to be the best baby-daddy there is,” he clarified. “Whatever it takes to keep her safe, we’ll do. Whatever we need to do to be like my parents---Chloe and dad I mean---and actually support each other through this, we’ll do. If it gets too weird or intimate or I presume something or you do, ‘wallaby,’ okay?”

She considered that and then shook his hand in agreement. “I like that. So what happens if I call ‘koala?’”  
Back to index


	2. Part 2

Author's Notes:  
While I've alluded to him by name in passing in the novel so far, I hadn't clarified much about Bruce's protege and the current reigning Batman. I don't read comics. I pick and choose from a hodge podge of stuff from Bruce Timm's cartoons on the Cartoon Network, Smallville mythos, the films from Nolan, and I reserve the right to go to The Birds of Prey tv series if I feel like it. I know just enough to know that the bat family in comics is pretty extensive with a lot of proteges but since this is a story so far flung in the future, I figured what fit best was going with the animated tv show Batman Beyond (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Beyond).

That said, I only watched it sporadically and its crossover episodes with Justice League: Unlimited .

What you'll need to know about Terry McGinnis, Bruce's almost proxy in Gotham and with the League by 2078, will be explained very lightly. Frankly, I just see him as Bruce's way to keep in League business even as his body has failed him because he's that much of a control freak that he'd never let it go.

Okay, that said, here we go.  
October 24, 2039, Watchtower 

"So run this by me," Jax said, frowning. "He gave you the bracelet, the Holy grail really for the ball and chain set---"

"Hey!" Mo objected, cutting into her Salisbury steak. "That's a priceless family heirloom and marriage is a very beautiful thing. Not all of us are complete hos."

Jax shrugged and poked at the mashed potatoes. "First, how can we have the most advanced tech in five galaxies, easy, and still eat cafeteria food. This is ridiculous. I'm complaining to management."

Cassie laughed and started adding liberal doses of salt to her pile. "Recession. Bruce and Ollie cut back. Complain to Kon more. He has like one fourth of the purse strings here."

"It's edible. Besides, the budget sucks trying to accommodate the newer members. We're getting The Legion diverse, species' wise. Um, you know, if you'd like to try those fl'agler from Andromeda, apparently they're supposed to be served squirming."

Jax sighed and pushed his plate away at the Watchtower commissary. "I'd settle for some mashed potatoes without lumps in them. These? Totally from flakes and like water!"

Cass giggled and whispered to Cassie. In short order both girls were working side by side on turning the lumps in question into mountains. He really didn't think that was funny or all that culturally sensitive. "You could always pack or offer to do the grocery runs, just saying. And you were saying about my bracelet?" 

It was hidden under her gloves. Cass, and Kon wasn't going to analyze it any deeper thank you very much, had adopted an outfit similar to his mother's. Whereas his mom's was maroon and had a fairly extensive cowl shaped to look like the bird from whom she'd taken her name, Cass's was navy but still had the gauntlets and kevlar stuff down. She did wear helmet of sorts, often complaining how hot it got under there and how those with invulnerability had no idea what a bitch it was to keep bullet wounds away.

Kon slipped into X-ray vision and grinned at the way the stone complimented her wrist. It looked really fantastic there.

"Just, you're doing this wait fourteen months before you get married thing? Are you giving Kon time to run to Pluto."

Mo rolled her eyes and it was probably not an accident Jax "dropped" a large chunk of gravy-covered stake onto his cape. "He's not gonna run and, also, planning. This is a big deal and you need to think it through and I think it's amazing. I sort of dig it's right in the New Year when it will happen. It'll be the same month as mom and dad's...um, the human one."

Cassie started to sculpt her mountains details. At least someone was getting use out of the food. "Only with you people do you need to specify. Also, I might need chicken wire for my masterpiece."

"Whatever," Kon huffed. "I don't go around...what's culturally insensitive to you?"

"I dunno, my dad knocked up half the western world. Pick something hardcore," Cassie snarked. "And come on, this didn't even involve probes."

Mo, Alura, and Jax all looked at him and they came up with the same response in unison. "It's not like that."

Cass shrugged and started using gravy to add a bit of brown verisimilitude to her mountain. "Sure it's not. Not at all."

"Stupid drunk hicks," Mo griped under her breath. "Anyway, the point is that these things take a lot of planning and thought. What? They're just gonna hop to Vegas?"

"Elvis marrying them would have made Uncle Perry ecstatic," Jax countered. "Has to be a good omen."

"No, it's a long, drawn out, um, really fun process," Kon amended, upon receiving his fiance and cousin's death glares. "Anyway, we're still just working on the venue party and huh," he said, trailing off and noticing the newcomer to the cafeteria for the first time. "Guys?"

"It's not 'long and drawn out,'" Mo defended. "If boys would just accept more than five colors existed..."

"Artist, I use all of them, just don't care about egg white versus crepe for an invite and I'm serious, Mo Ru-Cek ," he said, dropping his voice. "Who is that?"

They all turned and they noticed the matching frowns spreading across his friends' faces. Bruce was in the 'Tower. Kon couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his uncle outside of a security council meeting. He didn't mingle with the League at large. Somehow, Kon suspected it wasn't an elitist thing. His father and Aunt Diana and Uncle J'onn certainly enjoyed mentoring the newer generation. No, he suspected it had a lot to do with the fact that Bruce was fifty-seven now, by no means old, and he was in fantastic shape for a human of any age, but he wasn't physically hat he was. He certainly wasn't on par to spend his energy training metas or working with them. What strength and skill he had and was still honing was being put into patrolling his city and the emergencies that the League still called him for.

Apparently, also, for find a successor.

Alura considered the young man following behind Bruce, and he was painfully young, even moreso than Mo. Mo, at fifteen, really was a bit young to have skipped being a Titan completely, but, then again, while she was immature, the most powerful being on the planet was too hard an ally to pass up, especially in the Darkseid mess this past summer. "Wow, I didn't know. I thought he'd really stopped for a while. After everything with Oracle and...Batman has had a spotty track record at best."

Yeah, the number of murdered or handicapped proteges Bruce had wasn't encouraging. Kon wondered if the kid---he couldn't possibly be old enough to legally drive yet and thank you x-ray vision---knew that.

As the two of them made their way through the cafeteria, coming toward Kon and his friend's table, the room grew silent. Bruce, no matter his age, intimidated fully in cape and cowl and, while the new Batman's uniform was more discrete, with not nearly as long or dramatic a flare to his mantle, it was surreal for everyone.

"Flamebird, you had duty," his uncle said, shaking his head as he came to stop in front of Mo.

"Uniform's hanging in the javelin. I can change faster than you can blink. Oh, also, it keeps the gravy stains away, Look at The Eradicator would you?" she snarked, gesturing to Jax.

"We have a dress code. When we brought you into the League so young, we expected more."

Mo rolled her eyes and it was very Aunt Lois of her. "You needed me . You begged me . I don't want to mess the spandex. I slip back in for patrol, no worries, Batz."

Alura giggled for a second and then stopped, remembering it was best not to spite their uncle. "Sorry."

The young man behind Bruce frowned under his mask. "I know you. I've seen you on tv before."

Mo rolled her eyes again, oh to be fifteen. "Huh, someone watches CSPAN apparently. Grandma Martha's way more famous, feels like she's been in the senate forever." Mo smiled and Kon heard the newcomer's heart speed up. Interesting. . Offering the new Batman her hand, she added. "Moria Kent. How may I help you?"

"Uh, I thought there was a code name system?" he asked.

Kon sighed. "There would be, if Mo would play by the rules. The girl in navy is Ice Queen, makes her power self explanatory. The girl on her left in the star-spangled number is obviously Wondergirl. The man with the obvious cape stains---"

"Hey!" Jax objected, rubbing at the gravy spot. "It'll come out."

"Not if you rub it, Eradicator," Batman said. "The blissfully quite blonde is Supergirl and, since things have been blown a bit, Flamebird and Phoenix if you'd come with me. We're getting him brought up to speed."

Jax frowned. "I'm hurt we're not invited along, marginally. Also, since when do rugrats get full five star access?"

"Advanced track," Bruce gruffed. "I've been working with him for six months in Gotham. Mo, Phoenix, now."  
**

Kon sighed and leaned back in the security council office. It surprised him that his parents weren't there or, well, anyone frankly, but him and Mo, Bruce and the new guy. Shrugging and eying his sister, still casual in jeans and a sweater, Kon took off his mask. "Now I'm confused."

New kid started to take his cowl off but stopped when Bruce sent a death glare at him. "Wow, huh, so the League attracts billionaires, huh?"

Kon arched an eyebrow at his uncle. "How many he know about?"

"All of us, we went to Star City last week. You'd round the roster out, wouldn't you?"

"Technically," Kon replied. Sighing and shaking the new kid's hand. "My family...we're not really that secret around here but some of us follow protocol better than others."

Mo shrugged. "I don't have gravy stains!"

"I see," the kid replied. "Uh, Batman, nice to meet you."

"Connor Kent. Also, I should let you know since I'm obviously one of Superman's that I can see through your cowl. I promise real name won't leave the vaunted security council."

"Well, you know, the four people at the table we just left totes are gonna hear about it," Mo countered.

"Terry," he said, finally slipping off his cowl. "I'll need to get that up to spec, won't I?"

"Lead, for what it's worth, should you want to pass X-rays. Should you not care, meh," Kon replied. "So yeah. League has bank. Although it was started with Uncle Ollie way long before I was even born so I'm the new money."

"Yeah the type who springs for crap food," Mo groused. She frowned back at their uncle, who, naturally, had not removed his mask. "Seriously, when do you bring in the kiddos? Shouldn't he have started a Titan?"

Terry glared at her. "First of all, I have to have a a year or two on you, short stuff. Second, what's a Titan?"

Mo laughed. "Really? Have you been really working with him for six months. Minor leagues, literally. You don't really look ready for Varsity, and I'm fifteenish."

"Ish?"

"My birthday's in April," she conceded. "I'm an exception."

"Are you, princess?" Sighed and waved her hand for effect and Terry found himself suspended immobile five feet above the conference table. "The Hell?"

"Tip of the iceberg. Think all Superman can do, add this, and factor in no known weaknesses but fucking magic. I earn my spot. You? You look lacking."

" Mo Ru-Cek now," his uncle said.

She sighed and set Terry back down. "Like I said, you have a long way to go."

"Mo, that was pretty fucking rude."

She shrugged and he had the oddest feeling this was the equivalent of when a first grader pulled on the pigtail of a girl he liked. "He'll adjust. You want to run with us, you're going to need more than a black belt and six months of trial and error in Gotham."

"Flamebird, next time you do that to my protege, I'll call Fawkes."

She gulped. "I'll be good."

"See that you are," he replied.

Kon frowned at him. "You've already done the rounds then. I'm so dense. Ollie's not the only one to meet him first. Mom and dad already have, haven't they?"

Bruce nodded. "I knew one of you was astute. Leg injury. I've pretty much ruined the cartilage in my left knee. I'll be out for a while and it's unfortunate because I'd have waited later to introduce him, but I don't like leaving the League without a Batman."

"Or without a way to exercise your control freak needs," Mo chirped, smiling broadly.

"You are like your mother and your aunt's worse qualities," Bruce conceded. "The rest of the League approved a week ago. I was bringing both of you in on it for my own reasons. Mo's the only one in the full league close to his age, really, and I figured you too would help ease him into everything. This has been your family since forever, after all, Connor."

"Okay, we can work that out," he said, frowning between the death glares Mo and Terry were sending each other. "How bad can it be?"  
***

March 19, 2078 (Week 11), Watchtower 

"You know what's really great about this week?" Kon asked, waiting first for Cass to enter into the security council room. 

His parents, J'onn, Diana, Shayera, and Terry were all waiting for them. Kon rolled his eyes at the view screen set up as well. Bruce was far too ancient to come in person to the 'Tower, but wasn't content just to use his proxy. Oh no, he had a video feed in on this. It wouldn't annoy Kon as much if, irrationally, Bruce at ninety-six still didn't intimidate him. He really had no explanation for why. It was just how Bruce rubbed him. Oddly, his sister had never brooked to their uncle. She took much more after their mother on that score. Fawkes was consistently the only JLAer even now, not to buy into Bruce's glower and gravelly voice act.

Cass sighed and scratched at her cowl. With Bruce watching, as well as J'onn and Shayera, best to keep to protocol. Some League members had no flexibility. "Let me guess," she replied, sitting at her chair and waiting patiently for him to sit beside her. "No morning sickness?"

His Uncle J'onn---the bastard---laughed a little and Kon could feel joviality echoing through his mind. Terry, for his part, just flinched a little.

Yeah, not what a guy ever wanted to do.

"No," he answered honestly, glancing at his mom and dad. His dad was in casual wear today. He'd come from the first real round of blood transfusions from his mother. This would, hopefully, prevent any severe cramping from even starting unlike with Mo. "Fingers. Beautiful, no longer webbed fingers."

Cass chuckled and for a split second leaned forward as if she'd kiss his cheek. She blushed, realizing what she'd almost done and turned away, silent for a moment before continuing. Kon hated that. "You, uh, really are on that."

"No tail, no webbing. I tick off what I can. You just never know."

His uncle laughed again. Imagine what it would be like to be red eyed or perhaps scaled .

"Uh, no, that's a nice look. It has its appeal but I just think I'm glad she's coming along so well," he countered. "The loss of her tail really made me excited. I mean, I know better, but genetics is such a bitch."

"Yes, imagine having a glitch and it being the boringly human side," Shayera said tiredly,

Kon didn't know a single person in the League who actually liked her. She had all the charm and sense of humor of his Uncle Bruce and, somehow, less of his integrity. It could be, though, that she preferred to carry Kryptonite with her as well. As far as he knew, Terry and Shayera were the only members who carried it. His mom had some at her office and at home sheathed in lead, in case, but she didn't carry it on her like a freaking cross for vampires.

It was just offensive.

Idly, Kon pressed his hand to his stomach. He wasn't noticeably bigger. His mom had already started him on supplements that were gross as anything to make sure he got enough calories daily. He might have put on seven pounds or so, but nothing anyone would notice. Being able to see and hear her, made it so much more real to him that he was with child. Well, that and the death feud he was having with bananas.

"Imagine," he snarked. 

His mom frowned and adjusted her cape behind her. It just made him feel like he and his dad were somehow really under dressed. "Enough. Obviously, it's spread among the inner circle that Phoenix and Superman are not to be patrolling or doing much of anything for the foreseeable future. Clark will be out of commission through at least October."

His uncle's image flickered on the tv screen. "Understood. Well I assume that Flamebird and Superwoman, as well as Supergirl will take the brunt of those burdens."

Terry let out the tiniest sigh, that only Kon and Clark noticed at the mention of Moira's codename. Issues. "That would make the most sense. We might have to ask one or two of the Lanterns to try staying Earth side until November, just in case we need more firepower."

His dad nodded. "That would be a good stop gap. Frankly, I'd like to have Zatanna and Mordred around as much as possible, any Lantern that can be spared. The thing is...and this doesn't dare leave this room, is this understood?"

 

His dad was doing that booming voice thing that, even in sweats, made him seem imposing.

J'onn nodded and Diana frowned. "Kal, is something wrong with her?"

"No, not her, but the security council needs to know this. Jimmy's dying from a prolonged case of dementia as best the doctors can diagnose it. He maybe has a year left, maybe not. She's not capable of being on the front line right now and, frankly, after decades given for this team, she deserves time to be with her husband at the end."

His mom reached out and grabbed his father's forearm and Kon did the same with Cass. Mo was right about one thing. Kon couldn't fathom the pain his Aunt Kara and cousin had to be in, but especially his aunt. What he'd made with Cass had been his own making, but she was the mother of his child, for good or ill, and he had centuries to make it better. He knew his mom and dad had been the best of friends from thirteen on, long before alien conspiracies or mutant powers ever came into their lives. Aunt Kara loved his uncle no less fiercely; he had given her Alura. But time was over and his uncle didn't even realize what he'd begun to miss.

Terry nodded. "That definitely complicates things, but Lanterns and Zatanna. If you lose your three strongest Kryptonians, you'd think that magic and the Lantern Corp could help hold the line. Can Kara?"

"Short of THE apocalypse, I don't want her bothered. This is private and for her," his dad replied. "She's earned this, you know she has."

"But if something happens along Darkseid lines or Zod?"

"Yeah, only. She'd never spite anyone, but this is their time, and it's fair."

Shayera nodded. "Of course you're completely out for the count, Superman. Your powers should start becoming compromised very shortly if Mo was any indication."

He nodded. "Kon shouldn't glitch like crazy but his pregnancy needs the up most consideration. We're sorry it all came at once between Jimmy's decline and our pregnancies, but we know you all need as much notice and foresight as you can get."

His uncle's voice crackled across the view screen. "I assume you and Kon didn't plan this after all."

His father was as bright as a fire hydrant and Terry was coughing. "Not exactly. I was just really happy to see Chloe and..."

"Yeah, I think we can do the rest of the math," Cass said delicately. "It wasn't exactly opportune, no."

I feel worst for you and for Fawkes, frankly. The amount of moodiness--- Uncle J'onn started.

"Hey! I think I'm doing very well. You wake up every morning barfing at 3 a.m. and tell me how amazing you feel," Kon countered.

Terry sighed indulgently. "I'm sure you are. I...Alura and Kara have the right to care for Jimmy as much as they can. Jax is, well, compromised to be polite. You and Superman are off the roster, no questions asked. What about Mo?"

Shayera eyed Terry with a little disdain. "Batman, I think that---"

He cut her off. "No, Hawkgirl, I just meant that she's the best game in town, until the new little one is of age, of course," he added, deferring to his mother.

"True," his mom replied.

"I know she's busy working at the DP but Richard White's always been more than flexible with your cabal over there and, frankly, if she spent the year as basically on reporting sabbatical and on League speed dial, if she's up to that, then that might be for the best. Losing the three of you, as strong as we are, it's just a hard blow."

His dad nodded. "I'll talk to her tomorrow. She'll call you in Gotham by tomorrow night, okay?"

Terry nodded and they all stood, meeting ended. Kon was one of the last three out with him and Cass, when Batman took him aside. "Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"Really, you think she would take extra shifts? I'm worried if anything should pop up. We're playing way down."

"She'd do it. She'll bitch the entire time about her delay to Pulitzer glory but how could she not? Hey, uh, I'm terribly out numbered at the farm. I mean dad's there and sometimes Jax pops in, but they're so busy in Berkley and with Alura's dad now..."

"Your point?"

"Dad said a really big part of not going crazy during his pregnancies or turning into a total girl was guy time. I mean, I don't hang with that many guys to start and like I said Jax is occupied and dad's, well----"

"Also turning into a total girl? Mo talks an awful lot. It's true what they say?"

He frowned "Huh?"

"About the, yanno, by month five?" Terry asked, gesturing vaguely at Kon's waist.

His eyes went wide and Cass giggled. "I hate her. Sort of? Point is, just come by the farm this week after your work out patrol arrangements with Mo. I could use serious manly things to do. I'm still a guy here."

Cass laughed again. "Yeah, you cling to that, honey."

Kon stilled and she went scarlet. "What?"

Cass yanked her arm out from under his like she'd been burned. "I...that's a 'wallaby' moment wasn't it?"

"Maybe," he conceded. "I'll see you at the Javelin. Give me a minute for guy planning."

She nodded but said nothing else as she scurried out the door.

Terry shook his head. "So it's going as well as I figured. When I heard that she was the mother, I was beyond confused."

"You and me both."

"So not all hugs and puppies?"

"Awkward but polite at least. From what I heard about my dad and the late Lana Luthor, it could be a lot more strained. I just...guys' night?"

"Your dad gonna be there?"

"Probably and Jax. We can shout things at spring training? I, uh, never got into ice hockey."

"Right, tempting. Uh, Mo?"

"Is in Metropolis most of the time. Why, you want to extend her an invite?"

Terry blushed and started out the door. "Why would I want to do that?"  
****

He was laying down in his room, which, sadly, hadn't changed all the much in seven decades. The murals had been even touched up by his uncle after Mo's birth and then once again thirty years ago. Kon kept sports posters mainly over top them and a few Picasso prints, but the Kent Farm, Krypton, and House of El murals were still there, faded against yellow paint. He'd have to touch those up again for the baby. His uncle was not a gifted artist, not truly. He had made something beautiful and well-loved by his whole family, but it wasn't art by any means. Kon felt that, considering all that was happening, he needed to make sure he kept the art preserved as best as he could.

When the door opened, he expected it to be his dad.

"I'll be down in a second, I didn't realize dinner was ready."

"Kon, hey, is this okay?" Cass asked and he noticed that she kept the door open behind her. 

Yes, he thought, X-raying his stomach. Now was the time for chaperones and discretion. 

"Sure," he said, propping himself up on his elbows. "You're within all Australian mammal codes."

She nodded and sat down at his desk chair. "I...sorry about today. That was definitely weird, a zoo of weird. It was just we were all joking around and it slipped and it was super awkward."

He nodded and forced himself not to take her hand. "It was fine. I know you didn't mean it. I think the last couple weeks we've been okay at not crowding on each other. I'm not gonna crucify you cause you slipped. I...it's decades' of habit and this is so confusing. God, I'm gonna be a mess by month six."

She frowned. "I haven't read through all of your Uncle J'onn's notes or that What to Expect When You're Expecting book yet. Is there something about month six for humans or for Kryptonians that I need to know?"

He blushed and the lights flickered a little. "Um, mom said dad sort of had a very, very one track mind by then, especially with me since he wasn't so sick."

"One track...oh!"

"Yeah, uh, hormones and things. I'm gonna be just all over the place eventually so you'll be screaming 'wallaby' at me just for being a crying, moody pain in the ass before we even get to the, yanno."

"Arousal?" she sputtered. 

"Hormones," he huffed. "You're fine. I just wish this were easier. You've been so amazing so far. I mean, god, the shit I heard about my parents---Lana I mean---we're doing super well. Even mom and dad had disagreements over Mo. Granted they, uh, centered on me and house arrest basically, but they did. I think you're a great space giver."

Maybe too great even. She definitely wasn't slipping as much as she thought she was.

"So, you'll be climbing the walls in four months?"

"Not exactly! I just...we'll probably run into way, way more awkward. Look, we have this ridiculous elephant in the room."

"Cause you're preggers?"

"No cause we're like stuck. It's screamingly obvious I love you, cause I've made no secret of it, and, you know---"

"You're preggers."

"Yes, there is that," he drawled. "You still love me."

"Perhaps against better judgment," she admitted.

"Okay, well, I fucked up like crazy."

"Understatement, like saying Lex is a little naughty," she countered. "I thought you weren't going to full court press."

"I wasn't, exactly. I just...jeez, this sounds fucking stupid."

"When does the baby start hearing?"

"Soon, I think. Our earing is really, really acute in the womb and mine's a mess anyway so your point?"

"Swear jar again. Our baby's gonna pop right out swearing like a sailor!"

"Or like Aunt Lois used to," he said, smiling. "Okay, so PG-version is that we have this impasse and clearly we need to fix it."

"Fix it?"

He nodded. "I'm not dismissing what I did cause it sucked and we have to talk about it some time---"

"I can't yet."

"And still be civil here on the farm with me?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna need to figure out a way to have that talk without just...the baby doesn't deserve for me to run off in a huff over that. You did terribly wrong--"

"Believe me, I realize."

"But I really want to do what's best for her and us working together and trying is best as long as we do it healthily. So what exactly are you suggesting?"

"You do trust me with her, right?" he asked, cupping his stomach.

She nodded. "I don't exactly have a choice. She's pretty much stuck in there for another six months or so."

"Definitely, but you know I'd never do anything but protect her?"

"Yes."

"And she's collectively the most precious thing we have."

She nodded. "I just don't trust you with me, Kon."

"We can work on that. I...like I said, this is stupid, cause it's so getting everything incredibly backwards, but dates."

She blinked and the room got colder. "Excuse me?"

"You, me, dating. I'm not gonna even show for weeks to come and if I did, I can do as I please, can't I? It's not exactly like when dad had me and he had to hide for fear of Lex and Lana. Metas are all over."

"You're not going to be publicly out and about at seven months."

"Well not on TV," he conceded. "But I can take you to Metropolis for dinner even if I'm 'looking fat.'"

"You want to date me?"

"Yes?"

"We were married, as far as Kryptonian law goes, for the better part of two decades. This is our second child, really, together, and you want to what? Get coffee at The Talon?"

"I said it sounded stupid, Cass. I just meant...we have to start somewhere, okay? These feelings aren't going away, clearly they haven't even after Carter."

She swallowed and looked away. "I know."

He sighed and finally took her hand. "Cass, I can't undo what I did. I can't just say 'sorry' or expect the baby to spackle it over. I'm not expecting to get a dinner at Le Petit Fleur or something and then be married all over. But how I feel about you is never going to change and to just go to appointments together, to be so invested in her and in you too, is only going to make them flare up more. If it takes a hundred more years, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to show you I can change."

She sighed. "No full court press, huh?"

"I'm being honest. We can't just go silent on each other for hours cause of a pet name again or a caress. I want to try so bad again. I...just a date."

"Uh-huh," she said dryly.

"You'll like this one, promise!"

"Will I?"

"You, me, the Fortress."

"I don't think---"

He sighed and kissed the side of her cheek, grateful she allowed him to without shouting for a marsupial. "I'm going to take the training. I'm laid out for the next six months. It's time."

"If impressing me weren't in the picture?"

He blushed. "I want to take it. I want to know where I come from so I can share it with her. I want you to take it with me too. Alura and Jax took it together, after all."

"I'm not Kryptonian."

"You're the mother to a mini-kangaroo to be. You know Lara adores you, anyway. Um, as much as a machine can adore anyone. That's what I propose. Come with me for training and we'll go ask Lara what she thinks about names. I really don't expect us to marry again or ever. I broke too much, but I don't think it's realistic to pretend we're not what we are."

"And that is?"

"In love with each other," he answered firmly. "Share this with me and we'll share it with her when she's of age. Please, Cass, for our family."

"Are you using her to guilt me?"

"No, I'm saying that I know you very well. I could go to Bora Bora tomorrow first class, private jet and then buy out Cartier's on Fifth Avenue and get your your own island."

"We get it. Grandpa Lionel left you a shit ton."

"But that's not you. I can't buy you and I have no interest in it. I can't magically speed it up so it's a year or ten down the line and all our trust issues are magically patched through."

"Nope."

"But," he said, squeezing her hand. "I want to change and I want to do what's best for us and for her. I can explore my family for her sake; I can make Jor-El shove it and bring you into it too cause you've earned it. Can we try that?"

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "We can, but I reserve the right to call the safe word every time, Kon. I fell into bed with you and this happened. I can't just...I won't let my guard collapse totally. I can't ."

"I know, Cass, I know."  
Back to index  
Chapter 21 by Tobywolf13  
The Arctic, December 25, 2031 

Kon blinked.

He was really confused. He'd fallen asleep per usual in his loft in New York with his arms around Cass. Now he'd woken up instead of to the smells of spiced cider and cooking cinnamon buns but to sounds the howling winds of the Fortress.

"Uh, hi? Grandmother, you know it's Christmas, right?"

Kon-El, I have summoned you, a pompous voice called out.

Oh Jor-El, freaking perfect.

"This is not to wish me a happy holiday is it? Can I just hang out with Lara if I have to be here?"

I've over ridden Lara for a time. She has been far too lenient with all of you. 

"Yes, that's why we actually like Grandma Lara. She's not a raging asshole."

I do not tolerate insolence. 

"You're not going to brand, freeze, or brainwash me. Lara never would let you. You're full of idle threats. What's the point of me being here anyway?"

You have finished human college. We gave you time to fulfill the primitive education of this planet. It is time for you to take your year of Kryptonian training. 

Kon hesitated. A year away from his family? From Cass? Even if he was allowed to go home at night, spending 12-14 hours a day here as his father had would run him ragged. It wasn't something he wanted to do.

"I don't want to. What's the point? Krypton's gone and it is never coming back."

As disappointing as it is that you are merely a human half breed---

"Gee, thanks, Jor-El."

It is no less true. Mo Ru-Cek has potential. You do not have as much. 

"Yeah, we can't all be half all powerful, resurrecting meteor mutant. Some of us have to be part mortal. Anyway, you've been pleasant as always. Thanks for insulting me and my abilities. Let's not do this next yuletide season."

I can no longer force you or your 'siblings' to take the training. Frankly, I care little what Kara Zor-El's daughter does and even less for that one from the House of Ur. 

"Jax, his name is Jax."

Defective. Useless. God his grandfather was insufferable. I want you to take the training. You're the next generation of our House and you are an adult. It is more than time. 

"No. I have no interest in interrupting my life for a year or more," he said, reaching for the control panel. "Goodbye, Jor-El, I won't be back for this bullshit again."  
**

Cass was lying in front of the fireplace in their apartment, sprawled out in a warm quilt and among piles of torn wrapping paper. 

"So, let me get this straight. You drew a total Titanic picture of me. Kon!" she said, gesturing to his latest work. "I'm flattered, really, and I think you made my breasts bigger than they actually are---"

"Did not!"

"But where exactly would we put that? Your family blurs in here all the time and has X-ray vision. I can't even hide that in the closet."

He grinned and nibbled at her neck. "Put it in the front hall. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

She rolled her eyes and kissed him. "Yes that would go over well with Fawkes and your dad."

"You could call her Chloe, you know," he said, laughing a little.

"Nah, she's too tough at the League to call her anything else, but I think 'Superman' sounds weird in daily conversation. Besides, it's hard to take your dad serious when I've seen him pregnant!"

"It does take some of the intimidating manliness out of it," Kon conceded, blushing a little even remembering that Mo nursed or that it was green . "It's like your mom's fangirl."

"Am not! She's just cool. Also, you didn't answer me. Don't you think we need like a nice lead paint job for the closet we'll hide that in? If Mo saw it, I'd die and you know she'd tell all of Watchtower."

"I'll look into that tomorrow. I still think you're beautiful and everyone would appreciate it from an artistic perspective, of course."

"I'm not that kinky, thanks."

He grinned and kissed her again. "Just floating sex and..."

"You're so bad. So, where were you this morning?"

"Ugh, Jor-El summoned me to the Fortress whether I wanted to be there or not."

She frowned. "What did he want?"

"Well he did insult me for being half human. That's always fun."

"I doubt he dragged you to the Arctic to insult your parentage again."

" Half breed , yeesh. What did he expect? Not like dad clones or something!"

"Fair point," she conceded. "What did he actually want?"

"Training again. I've been out of college six months so Jor-El thinks it's time to supplement the lowly human education with something more. Give me a break."

"You could take the training. It wouldn't kill you."

He snorted and leaned against her, one hand straying low over her naked hip. "I'd be gone a lot. I'd come home exhausted at night. I'd hardly see you!"

"I'm flattered that you're that into me, but, Kon, this is important too. It's important to your people and your heritage. You dad took the training already."

"I know he did and Aunt Kara knew this stuff from Krypton already. I just...I don't want to interrupt my real life for stuff that can't affect it. Krypton's gone. If I know who begat who or who composed the Council hundreds of years ago, what would it matter? Not exactly going to impress on Jeopardy with that!"

She sighed and started to stroke his chest. "It's something you should want. What if you regret it one day? What if one of our children asks about their other family? Wouldn't you like to be able to tell the more about at least the real Lara or your aunt Alura? I think that'd be nice."

"Our kids, huh?"

"Well, it depends on if you're as adorkable pregnant as your dad. I may have other kangaroo choices out there."

"Um no. That's so your job."

"I am laying bets now, but I'm serious. This is something you can do. It's safe. Your dad liked it, and Kara already knows these stories. It's not like it's gonna suck and I bet if you agree nicely, Lara would be the tutor and not that asshat."

"Definitely an asshat," he agreed about his grandfather. "I'll think on it."

Cass rolled over and wrapped the quilt around her. Standing up, she headed to their bathroom. "I need to clean up."

"What did I say?"

"When you 'think' on something, you don't do it. You'll regret this; I know you will."  
**

April 11, 2063 - Smallville, Kansas 

He knew his father was behind him. He'd known for a while. Superman thought he was stealthy, but Kon's hearing was so superior, so sensitive. He knew when his dad had left from the DP just from the sound of his footfalls. 

"Dad."

And it was so fucking impossible to keep his voice even. God, would it always hurt this much?

"Kon, what are you doing here?"

"Why wouldn't I be? It's where he is."

His dad sighed and put his hand on Kon's shoulder. "You should be with Cass. Alura says---"

"I don't care what Alura's said. I can't right now. I can't look at her or have her look at me. I know I fucked this up somehow, me and my stupid DNA or whatever it is."

"Go home, son, and don't come back here for a month. You need distance. Carter's gone and you have someone at home who needs you badly."

"I feel so odd."

"How so?"

"Empty, like there's something I should do or say, something else. I...this sounds so dumb."

"I doubt it. Whatever you feel now is hard and I can't pretend to understand all of it. If I lost you or Mo, I don't know if I could go on either."

"Maybe you couldn't. It hurts to breathe, to think. I can't sleep cause of the nightmares but I can't stay awake either cause it's all I remember. Is there anything to say here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I could say the rosary a million times over. I learned it from Grampy Gabe. I just...is there something from your side to say?"

"Kryptonians weren't overly religious by the time I was born," his dad conceded. "But, still, there was stuff for honoring Rao."

"Rao? The sun god right?" Kon said, racking his memory for thinking of it more than his aunt's favorite curse.

"Yes. He also was the god of rebirth and of spring."

"Sounds like a lot of promise of something better---sun rising, cold leaving, something, well, less icy."

"Basically," his dad said, starting to pray. Kon could follow the words, most of them anyway, but he didn't know it well enough to recite it. So instead he bowed his head. Carter had been buried. It was time to honor the Kar-El half and he hoped he and his father had done him justice.  
***

March 21, 2078 

"You're not gonna be cold, are you Cass?" he said, rolling his eyes at her jeans and tank top.

She grinned. "Have you met me?"

"Now you're just showing off," he replied, setting the key in the old stone altar and shutting his eyes tightly as the light flared before him. When he opened them, he was surrounded by the snow and crystal spires of the fortress. Instinctively, he took Cass's hand. If his grandfather was going to mouth off and insult her, Kon wanted her to know that she was more than welcome here. 

He wanted her with him and if she wasn't 'special' or 'Kryptonian enough,' then his grandfather could keep silent about it.

He was relieved when Lara spoke instead. 

Kon-El, Cassandra, what a pleasant surprise this is. It is not the scheduled day of your check up. 

Kon nodded and squeezed Cass's hand. "No, I wanted to come."

Was it his imagination that the ambient air temperature seemed even warmer than before? 

That is wonderful, my son. I am always happy to see you and your family. 

"Yeah, wish Jor-El felt the same way but thank you for the sentiments."

Always. You seem well. The baby is coming along so nicely. She is almost 12 weeks. That pleases me. 

"Almost being done barfing up a lung in the mornings definitely pleases me," he snarked. 

And Cassandra, so nice to have you. You are so very special. 

Cass sighed. "I know I pack a wallop but even if I were just a normal human, I'd think I'd be awesome."

That is true enough. Alura's father and Kon's mother are merely human, after all. However, I shall always be impressed with your strength and am glad that it is a part of my family. That should honor you. 

Cass blushed. "Um, I get that, but really I'm not that special, not like Mrs. Kent or even as good at stuff as Kon is. He is the Swiss army knife of superheroes, so, unless you like snow?"

It happens to be a favorite thing of ours, considering our location. Kon-El, pleasantries have been exchanged. What do you wish from me. There is not trouble in Kansas is there? 

"Okay, granted, I tend to come when things are going really badly."

"Like for a pregnancy test?" Cass snarked.

"Yeah, like that, but actually Cass and I had a big request."

I am intrigued, my son. What could you want from me? 

"Lara, grandmother, we'd like to take the training, but I want it to be together. I know Jax and Alura took his together. I wanted to do the same, to share our culture with the mother of my child."

"Plus I like educational things. I'm a big documentary watcher," Cass offered.

There was silence in the Fortress for a long time and Kon wondered if the Fortress had changed personas, if Jor-El was in control again. Eventually, his grandmother spoke:

Cassandra, you are indeed powerful and unique. 

"Yes, we covered that," she said, her cheeks red in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

We must consider this request. While I would love for you to be able to share our culture with my great grand daughter, the training is arduous and long. Are you sure you would take the time as well? You would have to concentrate solely on it during the day. 

"I want to be with Kon. When the baby comes, we'll figure something out, a split shift for training maybe or a pause in it until she's a toddler like with Mr. Kent and Mo. I want to do this. Is it possible?"

It is not an implantation into the brain or something of that nature, not having a Kryptonian cerebral cortex would not be a problem. 

"Huh?" Cass asked.

"Kryptonian computers sometimes download directly into a person's mind. It happened once to this Dr. Walden and it fried him permanently."

"Oh wow."

You would be safe, Cassandra. Jor-El merely worries. 

Kon rolled his eyes. "You mean he doesn't want a lowly human, even the mother of his descendant, to have the top secret Kryptonian lessons, right?"

It is a concern, yes. He controls part of the training modules. Come back tomorrow and, Cassandra, have yourself prepared to give your argument to him. You are skilled in that, aren't you? 

"Yeah but this is a lot different than an opening argument, even before the Supreme Court."

If it were only up to me, I would have you take the training starting today, as long as you promise to dedicate your time to it. 

"I swear. I want Kon's culture, the baby's, to be something I know. I plan to share all of my family with her. It's only fair that I can share all of his."

I knew I always liked you, since I saw you contain Lex Luthor. Kon has chosen so very well. You make a wonderful wife. 

"Uh, technically I gave Mrs. Kent the bracelet back. We got divorced?"

Lara laughed That bond is forever. You can deny it, but it does not fade. I would embrace it if I were you. It makes you both stronger. 

"It didn't for Kar-El," Kon said, sighing when Cass pulled her hand away and hissed wallaby at him. Great, his grandmother was so freaking smooth.

Come tomorrow and Jor-El will here your case. If it is anything like what you have told me, then he'll grudgingly accept. Kon-El, this includes you. You have to express why Cassandra is suited for this honor. 

"Me? I'm not really much of a public speaker."

Then, perhaps, his grandmother said slyly. That is not how you will make your case. 

"Huh?"

Instead of answering, they were flashed back to the caves.

Perfect, now he had to impress Jor-El. Yeah, that'd happen, just about the time a woman in the Kent family finally got pregnant.  
Back to index  
Chapter 22 by Tobywolf13  
February 27, 2063 

"Kon, stop! It tickles," Cass said, trembling underneath him, half-heartedly trying to buck him off.

He grinned and kept kissing the swell of her stomach. She was just passed five months and in excellent shape. She wasn't patrolling---to dangerous for the baby---but she still went to the gym four or five times a week to keep as active as she could. Still, the modest bump that had started to grow was the most attractive thing about her, and she was gorgeous to start with.

"What if I don't want to? What would you do about it?"

She rolled her eyes and giggled again. "Well I couldn't fight you off, oh fearsome Kryptonian."

Kon chuckled and set his chin on her stomach, just above her belly button. "I think you have your ways, Ice Queen. I love both of you and I want to show it," he said, gesturing with his chin toward Carter.

"So tickling me to death?"

"Kissing," he corrected, bringing his lips to her skin again. "You're so amazing, Cass."

"If I'm amazing, then I could probably get you to do anything."

"Definitely."

She sighed and swept her fingers through his hair. "Kon, would you take training?"

"Huh?"

"Training. You, the Fortress. The whole nine yards. Even Mo's had hers and she's a lot younger than you."

"Cass," he said, picking up his head and rolling over onto his back in bed. "We've done this debate more than once."

"Why is it even a debate? Everyone but you has had the training, and Kara already knew everything. Why are you the only one holding out?"

"World saving?"

"Everyone in your family does that and Alura still find time to take her own and redo it with Jax. It's just you."

"Cass---"

"I know you've had your issues with everything Kryptonian in the past. I know you're doing better with it cause, God knows, anything would have been better than the way you reacted as a teenager."

"Point taken."

"But---"

"And there's always a but."

"What point are you proving by not doing it?"

"I'm not proving any point," he said, reaching out his hand and letting it fall on her stomach. "I just am not comfortable with it. It's all in the past, Cass. The planet's gone. Does it really even matter?"

"Your dad and aunt think so. The rest of the New Council, you know? What will you tell Carter when he's old enough? Just a 'talk to you grandfather?'"

"I didn't say that, exactly."

"Then when?"

"I'll get it before he's old enough to ask questions, okay? I don't want to do it."

"Is this a Lana thing?" she asked and, despite the harshness of her tone, her hand was soft and warm against his. 

"No, it's not about bio-mom or my issues or anything else. At least not those. I just...Krypton's dead, Cass."

"Which is why your best landscapes are always of it, no matter how you manage to see them."

Kon didn't let himself think on why he saw what he did, dreamed about it. It opened a can of worms into race memory and other things that he wasn't ready to deal with. Instead, he gripped his wife's hand. "It's a part of me, I know, but it doesn't define me."

"Bullshit. It doesn't define any of the rest of the Council either. You're scared of the Kryptonian part, Kon, maybe even more than Mo and you don't have to be."

"I'm not," he said, glad they weren't holding eye contact then but well aware of the tremor in his voice. "I'll take it when it's time."

"For him, it is."  
***

March 21, 2078 

"I don't know what to say, mom. I hate Jor-El. Everything about him is pretty much defaulted to hate humans...half the time I think he hates me for being half Lana."

His mother sighed and sat down on the corner of his bed. "For all you 'grandfather' trying to freeze me when we first met, he's never complained about Mo."

"And the Fortress is already impressed cause Cass is meta. Creepy eugenicists," he said. Even if Lara was complimentary of Cass, she still deferred to his...well to Cass because she was genetically different. Lara was polite to everyone but if Cass were ordinary, Kon knew his grandmother wouldn't be quite as accommodating. That irked him.

"True, but why is this hard? You love Cass. We both know how amazing she is in battle and in family crises, how much she's supported this family for half a century now. Is it that hard to put into words?"

"It's not the words, exactly. I'm not good at speeches, but I could play a video that lasted hours of all her best saves for the League or sonnets or the next War and Peace and it's not going to change anything. Jor-El's a dick and, even if he's impressed with her powers, he's a huge bigot and disdains humans."

"Again," his mother said drolly, "been there, done that, met him. Lara talked him into a chance. I think that means a lot. If he weren't able to be swayed, he'd have just banished Cass from the Arctic himself. Of course, you're right, a stor . Words are not your strongest suit."

"Mom, I haven't been a reporter since high school," he countered. 

"But you had a way with it, and you make such beautiful things."

"So you're saying I show Jor-El a portrait of Cass. Yeah, he'll appreciate that."

His mother stood and walked over to his desk. In a moment, she was sitting back down with one of his older sketchbooks in her hands. It was one he'd filled up back at Pratt decades ago. She thumbed through it and pointed to some of the images. Some were of Mo, actually she was one of his most constant subjects in college. He'd been driven those days to capture as much of her childhood as he could. They grew up so fast. He wanted to do the same for his own daughter, would have for Carter. He had in a way with Carter, drawing Cass regularly for the first six months, tracing her development and his. 

Other drawings were there, many of them daily life scenes from his family. While the landscapes and "abstracts" appealed to his fans and the art critics, it was those he did for himself, of his own life that meant the most to him. He couldn't show the Titanic version of Cass, bare and all, but he could show her, show what she meant to him.

"I still don't know if he'll listen," he hesitated.

"If he says no, then you'll just have to tell her about your day thoroughly. Even if Jor-El doesn't want the great secrets of Krypton spread, doesn't mean you can't. He's a pain but he's certainly not god."

"Ugh don't give him ideas. I know, but I want her to feel like this is her family. I want this to work."

His mom nodded and stood again. Leaning up on her tip toes, she kissed his cheek. "Then you have a little over twelve hours. I suggest you get started."  
***

March 22, 2078 

He hesitated before putting the key into the impression in the caves. "You don't have to do this."

"Are you taking back your offer to do training?"

He shook his head and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently. "No, I just know Jor-El's going to insult you and be a jerk and I...don't ever feel you don't belong with my family cause you're not Kryptonian. Not like there are many of us to go around nowadays anyway."

She smiled and he felt the slightest chill sweep up his palm. "I know I am. Jor-El doesn't bother me. I know you all hate everything he has to say and don't believe him, that he doesn't speak for you."

"Yeah," Kon said, slipping the key into its slot, "but I know he lives to make anyone he doesn't approve of feel like shit."

She nodded and grabbed his hand more tightly as white light flashed about them. "He won't make me feel like that and nothing he could say about the baby would be true."

"He better not."

I better not what, Kon-El? 

Kon sighed at the way his grandfather's voice rattled in his brain. "Jor-El. We've come to get the permission we need for both of us to get training."

Then I shall here from Cassandra first. 

Cass rolled her eyes. "Again, I feel just like I'm under cross examination."

Why should you be allowed Kryptonian knowledge? 

"Besides the fact that I'm the baby's mother? That I've been helping Kon deal with everything alien or League or just family related since we were eight? That I've bled for him in battle? Do you really need an itemized list? This is my family and when my daughter comes to me in five years or in fifteen, I want to be able to explain to her where she's from, to share the stories of her House and her culture."

They are Kon-El's to know and to share. 

"And I'm part of his life."

Funny how you were not for fifteen years, how the bracelet is no longer on your wrist. 

She bristled but never dropped Kon's hand. "We're working to fix it, but it doesn't mean I won't be there for my child, that I'm going to run off on her. He's carrying her but I love her; she's part of me. And, to be honest Jor-El, there's not much of Krypton left. It survives by the Fortress, Kara, and Clark all preserving it. It survives through the children of its children, even if they are half-breeds."

I do not and have never objected to your contribution. 

"Because I'm powerful, because I don't disappoint like a human or like Jax does."

True, but the knowledge is still a sacred right of passage. You're not one of us. 

"There was a child of this House once before, one of both our blood, who'd prove you wrong and now there's another. This is my family and I'm not going to cow to you over it."

Jor-El was silent for a while and, when he "spoke," he did not answer Cass directly. Kon-El, you were to make an argument as well. 

"Exactly like a trial," Cass grumbled.

Kon didn't offer a comment. He felt as she did but pissing off Jor-El was never a way to appeal to his better nature, what little he had. "I can't tell you my argument."

You had twenty-four hours. Did you not prepare one? 

He shook his head and pulled a piece of paper from his coat pocket. Unfurling it, he held it up, not certain of the mechanics but knowing that Jor-El could perceive it. "I can show you."

Frowning, Cass dropped his hand and angled herself to where she could see his work. "Kon, it's beautiful."

The scene he'd created was of her asleep in the nursery they'd once prepared for Carter, her stomach rounded and a small stuffed lamb settled on her chest. Her eyes were shut and her hair tousled and if one could draw movement, she'd have been snoring. But it wasn't those images that mattered, but rather, the small book stored in his crib, the one that had been handwritten by his Aunt Kara and still could be found among his Cousin Alura's most prized possessions."

I do not understand. There is no tome like that. 

"It's Alura's now," he clarified. "It'll be Nala and Max-Ur's soon enough. Aunt Kara wrote down some of the more interesting stories about the House of El and gave it first to Alura who loaned it to me and Cass the last time we were expecting. She read far more of it than I did. She'd be as absorbed in it; she'd be fantastic at it."

She has read some of our history? 

Cass narrowed her eyes at his tone. "I can read. It's a trick even lowly humans know. It wasn't anything top secret. Some stories of the Council, of Mo's name sake and Mr. Kent's, about the history of some of the more interesting and, I guess you could say, famous members."

I see. 

"You can't stop us from telling her or mom or whoever else comes into this family. She's earned this, Jor-El."

Again, a long paused from his grandfather before an answer:

Very well, you shall start in two days time. I need to prepare the modules for you both. 

With that, another flash, and they were sent back to the caves.  
***

He knew she'd come knocking. He'd almost left the door to his room wide open in anticipation, but they were struggling to keep things polite, knocking seemed in order for that. 

"Cass, we need to stop meeting like this."

She grinned, but some of the mood was dampened by her pulling out his desk chair instead of opting to sit beside him in bed. That was understandable, too much wallaby and risk of emotions in being in a bed together again. "Thank you."

"Cause I drew a picture and now we can spend hours a day with my grandfather?"

She picked up one of the pencils from his desk and began to twirl it in her fingers, avoiding eye contact with him. "What you drew, it was beautiful."

"It's what happened. I didn't think Jor-El would be a softy about it, but I think most of it was your own determination."

"You shouldn't play it down. I didn't even know you had that."

"I didn't. It's fresh. I sketched it last night after talking with mom. I remember it, though, how into the stories you were. You deserve everything from our family. She deserves it," he said, running his hand over his stomach.

"I...well thanks. Means a lot," she said, standing to leave.

"Cass, wait. Can you stay?"

"I'm not going to slip into bed with you."

He flinched but recovered quickly. "Move the desk chair to the side of the bed and we'll watch some TV. Door even open, promise." Cass nodded and pulled the chair beside him. He was surprised when he felt her kiss his cheek. "What was that for?"

She smiled and took his hand. "Because you stood up for me."

Back to index  
Chapter 23 by Tobywolf13  
April 24, 2040 

"You think you know everything!" Mo shouted, and Kon remained silent. Next to him, Cass was watching everything unfurl with the same silent gaze. 

"I never said that, Moira. I didn't. I'm just saying that this is my city and I expect you all to play by the rules when I invite you here," Terry replied and he had some of the composure of Bruce, maybe a hundredth of it, but still for someone who was barely sixteen, it impressed Kon.

She shook her head and took off her mask. They were back post mission at the manor; there was no need for them to stay in costume. "You needed us, not the other way around. The Joker Gang pulled something you couldn't handle cause, hey, just human , and we came and bailed your ass out. We do that a lot."

"Mo, stop, that's harsh," Cass said.

She glared back at the older girl. "Ice Queen, back off. He asked us to come. He didn't have the full recon on the mission, and you're the one who would be nursing a shattered wrist for weeks except I am like mom. You should be more pissed than I am!"

Cass, her freshly healed left arm still held close to her chest, pursed her lips. "He told us what he knew, what both he and Uncle Bruce knew. He did the work. It's not a mission unless something goes pear-shaped. He didn't mean for me to get hurt and I've gotten hurt more than once. I'm a big girl, Flamebird."

Mo's eyes flashed and Kon could feel the temperature in the room around them spike, but she didn't answer Cass directly, just turned and looked back, eyes flaming, at Terry. "You could have done better. You're such a fucking amateur. I don't even get what Bruce sees in you."

"I don't know what he sees in you, Moira. You're an asshole, a complete asshole. I've been working my butt off trying to catch up with League everything. I've never tried to say I knew everything, always deferred to your parents or to Shayera or J'onn for advice. I know I'm knew and I'm over my head, but Bruce had to have surgery and there wasn't a choice. I don't know why you hate me so much or what I did to make you hate me, but I know I'm not god's gift to anyone, okay? I'm just a guy."

Mo snorted and her eyes were blue again. "Yeah, you can say that again. God, you're nothing like your namesake."

"And I see you treat Bruce with about as much respect as you do me," Terry replied, drawing closer to her, until he hovered over her. "Who do you give two shits about? Who passes your tests? Can a human even do it?"

"Fuck you."

"No, I mean it. What do you want from me? I do the best I can every day and I'm just mortal, just like Fawkes was when she first helped start the League, just like a lot of people still in it. I honed my skills, didn't just get born the winner in the superhero freakshow."

She'd have hit him if Kon hadn't seen it coming, hadn't put himself between them. He held Mo's wrist tighter than he had to. "Enough. Mo Ru-Cek , I have to tell dad what you almost did. We can't hit humans."

"Maybe he earned it!"

"Whatever is up your ass, let it go. Get a shower, get some sleep in a ridic huge bed upstairs, and think of whatever excuse you're gonna try and shove off on dad. This?" He said, holding her hand up higher. "This is unacceptable."

"Fine. Whatever," she said, glaring at Terry. "Next time you need a bail out, don't call me."

"I won't."  
***

Cass was already getting showered in their room. Kon had left her with the suggestion---one never ordered Cass Carpenter---but the strong hint really that Mo wasn't in a mood to be dealt with. He didn't think Mo would hurt her, but, something had his sister keyed up to epic levels because he never thought she'd attempt striking a human, let alone without real provocation.

"We need to talk, now," he said, sitting down in one of the antique high-back chairs by the mantle in the main parlor. "When did you start sleeping with her?"

Terry didn't blink. He was good. Bruce was better. If his uncle had been lying, his heart would remain steady as a metronome, but the younger Dark Knight's was fast as a rabbit's. "I don't understand."

"You and Mo have been sleeping together. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. I should have got it the second you started just calling her Moira in civvies. No one does that, not even mom. How long?"

"Fucking Kryptonians. Can't have anything private with you around," Terry said and Kon made no comment as the younger man sipped a beer. "A month. I...we were back at the Tower after patrol in the rec room and I don't even know. We were arguing cause when aren't we and the next thing I know, we're kissing and it's the best idea I've ever had."

"I see."

"Are you gonna kill me now for defiling her."

"Oh god, I don't even...no, my dad probably will, but I won't."

Terry swallowed. "Superman's gonna kill me. Oh my god. I had sex with Superman's little girl and now he's gonna fry me into ash."

"Dad's not huge on violence. He'll probably lecture you to death," Kon admitted. "I...Mo's not even sixteen yet."

"I dunno. It was one of those long days, the kind with a interplanetary threat and in the aftermath you're just really glad you're not dead."

"So this was meaningless 'glad we're alive still' panic sex?"

"No, god no, man. I don't know why---because she's a pain in the ass---but I really like your sister. She's amazing."

"She's a little young for anything. Not in the 'if you touch her...' way but more in the 'she's not ready' way. For most girls, that means she'll cry too much into her pillow and listen to mopey goth music. For Mo, it means she literally could break your neck."

"She wouldn't!"

"She almost did. Why is she at your throat now, Terry?"

"I don't know."

Kon frowned. The other man's heartbeat was steady. "You really don't. I just assumed that..."

"It was a flavor of the week thing? That I'd not want her after the thrill was gone? Maybe cheated on her? That's not very forward thinking of you. Nothing's changed; I've not done anything."

Despite the situation, Kon grinned just a little at the way Terry spoke, the bit of British in it filtered from Alfred to Bruce to him. "What was the last thing that happened between you two before this mission, personally I mean. Did you fight?"

"No...I don't think so? Mo just stopped taking my non-business calls three days ago."

"Why?" Kon asked, the reporter in him patiently pursuing the lead.

"I can't...this is really awkward, man, don't kill me."

"I reserve judgement. What happened?"

"We, uh, well that is to say she might have...I'm sure it was just an accident---"

"What did Mo do?"

Terry blushed and concentrated on his hands. "She separated my shoulder when we were...you know."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. She didn't mean it. You're all just so strong. I'm sure....not that I need to know details...but I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened."

"Not for me. Cass and I are pretty well matched save for bruising. I've never asked Jax what it was like in his early co-ed conquests but I do know once that Aunt Kara fractured Uncle Jimmy's collar bone. Humans and Kryptonians are not ideally suited, no."

"Shit, Jimmy okay?"

"It was before I was born and he seems like both arms work fine. I think I get this a lot better than I did an hour ago."

"You do cause I sure don't. I'm okay. I mean, it's not optimal but I've had worse on a patrol."

"It's not about you, no offense; it's about her. Mo's incredibly sensitive. She's more like dad than any of us."

"Huh?"

"She's self-conscious about being meta, and I mean meta, about being a mix of mom and dad's strengths and none of their weaknesses. Being that strong terrifies her."

He snorted. "Could have fooled me the last six months with all her mouthiness and showing off. I thought she was high on the whole power trip thing."

"Then you didn't know Mo well enough to sleep with her."

"Maybe I didn't. I...what I said was wrong, wasn't it?"

"Well she was pushing you on not being good enough and that's your trigger but, yeah, you found hers on accident. Mo believes she is a freakshow. I'm sort of surprised that she slept with you at all."

"Cause I'm normal?"

"No, cause you're not normal enough. She likes class presidents and football quarterbacks. Anyone sickeningly normal. I never thought she'd give any Leaguer, even a mortal one, a second look. I'm sorry this got complicated and that she took a swing at you. I'll talk to my dad and he'll---"

"Talk to Bruce."

"Yeah, I don't think it's wise for you and Mo to patrol together for a very, very long time."

"You think we can get back together?"

Kon snorted. "After what you said? She won't give you the time of day, man."  
***

July 4, 2051 

"I can't do this anymore," his sister was able to get out that much before bursting into tears on his shoulder. Kon rocked her, trying to filter out the steady in-out of the breathing machine working in the room. Batman had been infected by something from the Jokers, a chemical agent that had to be infused with more than just the usual poisons because his mother and Mo couldn't undo the effects.

"Yeah, you can."

"It's been a week, what if he never wakes up? What if I just visit him here forever, for a decade, for who knows how long and I can have a billion powers but my best one won't even work here?"

The windows rattled and he held her more tightly. "Mo, relax. It won't help Terry or Bruce for that matter if you ruin the manor."

"I can't do this. I knew this was a mistake. I knew when he asked me to give it a real try, not a fucked up hormonal teenager try, that I should have said no. Humans die."

"Yes, Mo Ru-Cek , they do. So do Kryptonians and Martians and Thanagarians if you're keeping track."

"I don't."

"Of course you do," he lied. "Terry will get better. Bruce is working over time to synthesize an antidote. You'll get to cuddle and cry and do the big reunion thing and you'll be you guys again. He's been good for you. He's the only non-douche you've ever dated."

"Okay, yeah, furthest from Kevin I could get, but I can't, Kon, cause one day it will be unavoidable, whether it's because he's killed or he gets old and I can't . It was stupid to even try."

"Yes, because committing to old maidom at about 27 is a good idea."

"It's better not to even try than to lose him forever. I...there are certain things I can't have, Kon, okay? Not like you or even Alura and Jax. I don't get the same things."

"Bullshit."

She sighed and pushed away from him. "I...can we have a little while in private, Kon? I need that."  
***

May 4, 2078 (Seventeen weeks) 

"Wow."

Kon sighed and narrowed his eyes at Jax and Terry. "You were coming over to actually fulfill the guys hang out together promise when there's not something evil lurking. I know it got delayed by a lot because our lives are all uber busy even without the clandestine world saving but don't look at me like that!"

"I wasn't, man, I wasn't!" Terry objected, his eyes still planted on the burgeoning swell on Kon's stomach. Five weeks of nothing---no chores, no patrol, no anything that could use calories---and tons of that gross protein shake that Dr. Thomkins was forcing down his throat had worked their magic on him. He wasn't large by any means, maybe no more than 15 pounds, but it was a noticeable gain for him and only located in one place. The extra size up in jeans and even the baggier t-shirt couldn't hide the beer gut that wasn't.

Jax shrugged. "It's not bad. I think your dad was bigger the first time by now, maybe not, have to check J'onn's records. I know that this is a good track and Allison's happy with your progress."

Kon narrowed his eyes further at his ersatz brother. "You really, really want to poke and prod at me some day, don't you?"

"I'm talented with medicine, who knew? I'm not a bad obstetrician actually. You and Clark are just wicked stubborn."

"Things that can never be unseen, Jax," he sighed, letting both men into the kitchen at Kent Farm. Cass had already worked with Mo to clear out his loft in San Francisco. If there was a place to be a pregnant Kryptonian---weird sentence no doubt---then it was here with his family and the League close beside him. It wasn't that he'd had any adverse reactions of note, except for this frustrating inability to keep warm, or that it was even a day and age where what he was was as unusual thanks to the odd gamut of meta powers, but it was best to be here just in case, to be protected and safe with his mother, Mo and Cass on constant watch.

Still, didn't make a guy feel a little insulted when his brother was itching to give him an OB/GYN check up and his best friend was just staring so hard.

"Terry, really, I know it's been like six weeks since we saw each other but you do know this is not communicable, right?"

"Duh."

"I'm serious. I'm me! I'm really truly still me. I just have a passenger."

"Well there is the vestigial opening that is unblocking also on schedule, the inevitable development of your nursing capabilities..." Jax continued as if he were narrating a National Geographic Documentary.

Terry was green, the way legend said he and Jax should be as a default. "There's what now?"

Kon took a deep breath and poured himself yet more of his gross shake. "The baby has to come out somehow, right, and, yeah, we breast feed. It's a thing. It's not like I'm gonna lay an egg or have some little acid spewing monster break out of my chest here!"

"Breast feeding?" Terry asked, rolling the words around like he was learning a foreign language, the cadence all off.

"I'm not proud of it. I'd rather Cass was the one doing it, if she could. I do get that, but I'm still The Phoenix. I could still fry you from where I stand. I'm a guy hello!"

Jax considered that. "Technically and genetically speaking yes, but the fail safes our ancestors built in to mimic female anatomy in a foreign substrate really are extraordinary."

"I liked you better before you got obsessed with biology and what makes us tick. Where are the jokes? I feel like if you had your way, I'd be under a microscope. It's a little creepy, Jax."

"I don't," he defended. "It's just a fact's a fact. What pregnancy does to us is pretty interesting."

"You don't have to do it."

"Not signing up for it, no, doesn't make what's happening to you and to Clark any less fascinating."

Terry was still pretty off color. "Uh? I...wow...you ah...wow."

"Would you like to feel for the tadpole's kicking?" Kon asked, finishing his drink. "Everyone else is desperate for it. It's still early---dad swears he never felt me til week 19---but Mo and Cass are in a contest to see who feels her first. 

"Oh jeez."

Jax sighed and touched Kon's stomach. "You won't be able to feel anything for at least 2-3 more weeks, but it's a consolation prize."

"I?" Terry asked.

Jax rolled his eyes and removed his hand. "Just touch it, say you're sorry for being so 'eww cooties' about it, and we can watch some baseball, okay?"

"I--"

"Do it," Jax said, voice stern. "A happy patient is a healthier patient and I appreciate it when my patient isn't having existential crises over his best friend thinking he's contagious."

Terry sighed and planted his hand on Kon's stomach, which, to be fair, was still covered with a t-shirt. "Yeah there's not much going on there."

"And yet not a beer gut or creepy tumor. See, you can see and touch me and not 'catch' pregnant."

Terry sighed and grabbed a bag of chips before heading into the living room to watch the Gotham Knights playing the Metropolis Wolverines. "Not the way I've been a monk lately."

"Eligible bachelor!" Kon hollered. "Your own fault."

Jax waited, eyeing Kon until he finished all his calorific horror. "I have to make sure you drink it all."

"Dad and I aren't your job. I mean you already have a normal rotation doing neurosurgery internship and there is that Lantern's niece who's going to you and Dr. Thomkins for her pregnancy. You don't have to be serious about me like I'm a chore."

"I take care of my own, okay?"

Kon sighed and deliberately slowed the pace of sipping his drink. "We only have a few minutes before Terry notices that we're stalling so let me just be honest. I miss you."

"Uh, right here? We see each other weekly at Watchtower. I know Alura and I are busy but Jimmy's doing so poorly and---"

"No that's not what I mean. I miss the Jax I know. I don't remember the last time I heard you make a joke that wasn't you goofing off for Nala and Max."

"What's funny anymore?"

"Okay, it's a shit year for your side of the family. I can't even imagine how badly it feels for Alura and Kara cause I know it hurts even thinking about Uncle Jimmy that sick. I get you all want to keep it private to preserve his dignity and yours, but we're here, you know? Mom and dad and me and Mo and we love Uncle Jimmy too. You don't have to hole up in California and just not talk about it."

"Kara ordered it be private. Jimmy wanted to be left unaltered, left mortal, but it doesn't mean people at large have to see him unable to feed himself, okay?"

"Is it?"

"Not quite yet but he can't tell Kara apart from even Nala by now. It's not good, Kon."

"And the Jax I knew would still be joking about it and not getting creepy obsessed into medicine."

"My new career move for one thing but, for another, define 'you knew.' Which Jax are we talking about? The oversexed idiot from grad school? The joke of the League? Which one?"

"Okay, no one stays twenty-four forever," Kon sighed, looking between them and thinking of his parents. "No one emotionally is twenty-four forever, I mean. I don't expect you to be a frat party animal, no. I just...I don't even see you smile anymore if it doesn't involve Max, Nala or Lur. I don't remember the last time you cracked a joke just in passing. It's like you're just shut down and so damn clinical."

Jax considered that. "I have what I love. I have my family and the three of them mean everything; I can relax with them."

"You used to relax with me and pretty much everyone else. Just because Jessie---"

Jax's eyes were read and Kon could feel the floor beneath him shake. "You don't get to talk about her like it shouldn't matter."

"It's been over thirteen years, Jax."

"And she was my sister. You hold Mo cold and bloody in your arms and crack a joke after ever. Drink up, Kon, and stop looking for people who aren't there."  
***

"So," Terry said, offering Kon a glass of milk out on the porch. "Jax was in a hurry to leave the second the game ended. Add in the way Mo pretended I wasn't sitting on her couch when she and Cass brought in the groceries, and it was an in-no-way-awkward night."

"On the plus side," Kon said, taking a sip of his drink. "You seem to be less afraid you'll end up like me."

"It's an adjustment, Kon. I'm sorry. I've seen some of the pics of your dad from with Mo but it's pretty surreal. Suits you though. You've seemed happier as awkward as everything is with you and Cass. I think you'll make good parents for what it's worth."

"Mo practice?"

He shrugged. "Something like that. I miss her, you know."

"I don't know if that's a mutual thing but if it makes you feel better, even if we weren't friends, Mo never dated anyone as cool as you afterwards."

Terry considered that and swigged his Coke. "It'd make me feel even better if I were able to get her to say three words to me."

"I know and it sucks. Mo thinks she has to be alone."

"Stupid that, just cause she's Kryptonian. You and Jax and Alura don't have that issue."

"No cause she...can you keep a secret?"

He snorted. "I think that's a pre-req for being in the League. What Kon?"

"Mo doesn't think she can die."

"That's stupid everything dies."

"Diana can't."

"And your sister isn't a god. She's a...well she's a Mo."

"And she can't be hurt by Kryptonite and self revives and Doomsday couldn't touch her, not a freaking scratch on her. She's never dated anyone like she did with you. She'll do a few months, maybe even a few years, see a gray hair and freak out. But they never get all of her. I've never seen her date anyone since you who knew she was League. That she was meta, sure, that she was Flamebird, yeah right."

"I always knew who she was. Doesn't mean anything."

"She wants to have the fun of it but she can't bear for anyone to leave her. Humans age and die and it freaks her the fuck out."

"So I'm not thirty anymore," he conceded. "I get that."

"No, you never saw her when you were in that coma for a month. It ate her up, seeing that as bad as not knowing was, not having you at all was worse."

"Yeah and then I wake up, we spend a few months of me convalescing and her being distant, and we've never been more than colleagues since. How is that better?"

"I can't say. Cass and I are about the same life span, thank you meteor rocks. I don't know what it's like to watch someone you love age and die. I mean family and friends, sure, not the woman I love. Maybe she doesn't want to live the way Kara is now."

"And she really thinks it'll be like this until what? The sun burns out?"

"I dunno, why wouldn't she?"

Terry sighed. "Still bullshit man. Rather have something than nothing at all. It's not a life, and, frankly, I can't believe your parents let her dwell in that crap."

"They don't."

"Huh?"

"Mom and dad don't know she thinks she's immortal til the earth burns out type."

"What?"

"I...Mo made me promise never to tell them that it scares her that badly. I made that promise and I'm keeping it."

"When'd you make it? After I got better?"

"When she was still in college, actually."

"That's mature. You mean like thirty years later and neither of you bothered to tell your parents."

"It's not fair to worry them."

Terry sighed and was still for a while, that same inhuman stealth all the bat family seemed to have learned. "What about their little girl, what's her name?"

"We're deciding on names for both the babies tomorrow, actually."

"Yeah, what about her. Did anyone even think it would be a good idea to warn your parents that they might be leaving a legion of can't ever die ever children around?"

"What?"

Terry swore under his breath and took another long swig. "If Mo is right, then your parents weren't thinking once and that was unfortunate, but now there's another baby just like her and you all should have at least asked the Fortress first about the odds. Because, yeah, if your sisters can't ever die then that's a cruel punishment that neither Mo nor the baby ever asked for."  
Back to index  
Chapter 24 by Tobywolf13  
April 25, 2040 

Kon wasn't sure why they weren't having a talk like this at Watchtower. Technically what Mo had done was a violation of League protocol. They didn't strike each other, but it was also a bigger blow, so to speak, against what their parents had taught them. Terry was exceptionally lucky that Kon had been quick on the draw. Instead they were sitting in the family room, as if Mo had done something more inane like cheat on a test or take the car without asking.

Mom was in Gotham, both to heal Terry and to placate Bruce. It wasn't as if Wayne Manor weren't loaded with cameras. Bruce had seen on a loop by now, Kon was sure, what Mo had attempted. Fawkes and the real Batz were going to figure out exactly what her punishment and restrictions for the League would be.

His dad didn't say anything for a long time, just stared at Mo as if he'd never met her before. "Bruce showed us what happened even before your brother called us."

"Bruce would," she countered.

"You were going to hit a human, Mo Ru-Cek . You were going to hit a human with no provocation and one who is on your side. What on Earth were you thinking? If Kon hadn't been there, Terry'd be in traction."

Mo kept her posture rigid. "I wasn't gonna hit him."

"It felt like you were," Kon countered quietly. "Mo, you weren't thinking, just reacting. We have no right to hit anyone first ever and we definitely have no excuse to take our powers out on someone mortal. It's like aiming a steam roller at someone. You know that."

"I'm not four."

"You're acting like it," their father said, sighing. "You slept with him."

"No I didn't."

Mo's heart never missed a beat. She was good.

"Terry fessed up, Mo. What were you thinking?" Kon asked. 

"You're not my dad."

"I am, though," their father corrected. "Mo, you're too young for this. You know you are."

"I'm almost sixteen. That's not young at all for that sort of thing. Mom---"

"Aunt Lois talks too damn much and, trust me, that was a mistake," his dad finished. Kon worked really really hard to block the image of his mother and Uncle Jimmy like that.

"Still, I'm not some wrapped in cotton virgin or something."

"It's not about that, exactly," his father answered. "I'm not worried about diseases or even about Terry treating you poorly. It's not in his nature. If he were that type of guy, Bruce never would have chosen him to take the mantle."

"Then I don't understand. Everyone's---"

"You aren't everyone, Mo," Kon added. "You're not like anyone."

Mo's face flushed gold. She was having trouble again controlling her emotions. "Believe me, I know that. Other girls get to do what they want, Kon. Why not me?"

"Because you weren't ready for it and it's sent you all off kilter," their dad finished. "You aren't like other girls and you know this. If you want to be fair, neither is Alura. You can't afford to get over emotional or to let yourself be left this vulnerable. Do you understand that?"

"Everything was fine, okay. Terry's fine."

"You almost hit a human and you're off any type of duty at the Tower for six months. No patrolling anything, no going at with friends, no anything but school and helping me in regular speed on the farm. What you did is unforgivable."

"But I didn't do it!"

"If I hadn't been there, Mo, would you really have been able to stop yourself or would Terry be eating through a straw for the next year?"

"I...I don't know. I was just so angry at him and what he said."

"You insult him a lot for being only human, Mo, or for being just a novice. You might be the most powerful member of the League but you're not experienced and it shows," Kon corrected. "Maybe it's your version of pulling his hair, I dunno, but you can't just treat him with that much disdain. Jesus, get a Hallmark card."

"I don't---"

"You've been pretty insufferable, sweetheart," his father said. "Saying things like that about any human...it's a bad trick of a mindset even if it is some passive aggressive dating thing. It clearly set you off."

"He called me a freakshow!"

"You implied he was inferior over and over," Kon countered. "You two treat each other pretty crappily in public."

She sighed and looked down at her nails. "I know, I just...I can't explain it. He rubs me the wrong way a lot but I really like him too. How does that even work?"

"I dunno, you'd have to ask your Aunt Lois. She and Uncle Oliver had a history like that before her met Aunt Dinah," his dad said. "Some people just react like that. But you let it get too far. We know about Terry's shoulder."

"That was an accident and I really can't explain to you what was happening at the time. I mean, please," she hissed, her cheeks flaring supernova. "I wasn't concentrating hard enough and I...I was stupid."

"So you sublimate all that anger at yourself into picking on him until it almost came to blows. Mo Ru-Cek , I am so disappointed in you. I know what you're going through, believe me I do. I never hurt either of your mothers if we're going to go there in this discussion---"

"God this is awkward," Kon said, even thinking about Lana.

"But I lived in fear for a very long time that I could."

Mo snickered despite herself. "Aunt Kara said you and the squirrel weren't shy."

"Kon's biological mother and I," his dad corrected, sighing, "well, it took a long time to get there. So much happened in that and you both know the story and for what it's worth, Kon, I very much thought I loved her at the time."

"Yeah," he said, not sure of what answer would work best here, if there were an answer.

"I couldn't...God this is hard," his dad said. "For almost three years it was a huge issue between us, since college. I know how hard it is to care about, to sleep with someone who's fragile. It's terrifying and I never did hurt either Lana or Chloe."

"I didn't mean it," Mo said and her voice was very quiet now.

Their dad took her hand in his. "I know you didn't. You might have meant some other very terrible things, Mo, and you better like horse manure cause you'll be seeing a lot of it from now on, but I know what happened, you couldn't control it. You're very young and you're growing into your powers. If I'd tried anything like that at your age, someone would have died. Kon set his bedroom on fire when he and Cass tried. If Cass weren't like she was, who knows how far that would have spread."

Kon blushed. "She's good about some things."

"I hurt him. I...why are they so fragile?"

"It's their nature," dad replied, squeezing her hand. "They're fragile, even the metas really, and we're not. It's why all of us---your Aunt Kara and I, your New-New Council---our first rule is we don't deliberately strike them. We can't . It'd be too easy to be like Zod or Brainiac if we did. That's what scares me Mo. You can't let your anger and your frustration ever get the better of you, even if you're just mad at yourself. You can't take back a mistake like that."

"I---"

"Before you even add that you could have healed it better, it doesn't make the initial act any better. You were too young, your powers too erratic, to sleep with anyone and, emotionally, you're too immature for so much. We were desperate when we put you on the League roster and if it had been anything short of Darkseid, we never would have. It was a mistake."

"What?"

"Huh?" Kon asked, blinking at his father. Sure Mo was a brat, but she packed a lot of fire power.

"Mo, after your punishment, you won't be allowed back to the League until you're eighteen and only then on a probationary basis. We made a mistake."

"Did Bruce?" she asked.

"No, I did. I watch out for the four of you on the League and most of the time I worry about you getting hurt."

"Like how Jax can't be on field duty," Kon said, having known for a while what either Jax couldn't see or wouldn't admit, that it had never been Bruce blocking his applications."

"Yes. Don't repeat this to him, but he can't be allowed out there. He's already lost enough. I promised his mother. Usually, I worry about what being on the League could do to harm you, but right now, Mo, you being on the League is destabilizing it. You may have abilities that none of us completely understand, but you're a child."

"I'm good at what I do."

"And you're terrible at teamwork. Mo, we'll talk about The Titans in six months. Forget the League, you're not going back for a very long time."  
***

May 4, 2078 

"You've been out here a really long time," Cass said, coming to sit next to him on the loft's sofa. "Terry's been gone a while and you just came out further after he took off and skipped dinner. Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm not sick or anything," Kon conceded. 

"Good cause there's tons of turkey and green beans waiting in the kitchen for you."

"Thanks mom," he groused.

"Welcome kangaroo," she replied. "What's actually wrong? Guy bonding seemed super awkward tonight."

"Terry got better. He was just really...I look stupid."

"Oh god, Fawkes warned me about this. I am not doing four months of you moping about looking fat. Please don't do this to me."

"Not like that. I mean, it's obvious now and it wasn't at The 'Tower last time. I think that's really what's made all the difference. I think he was just wigged a little bit but he calmed down. Somehow guys would rather catch a flesh eating bacterium than get pregnant."

"You took it well so far."

Kon sighed and looked up at the stars through the loft window. "I was pregnant for a very short time before, we all know this now. It wasn't the worst thing ever. And, you know, God forgive me for saying this out loud."

"What?" she asked, and he wondered if she realized she'd gripped his knee.

"If carrying him would have saved Carter's life, I'd have done it in a heartbeat. If this is what protects my child, sign me up, not a bad deal, okay?"

Cass looked away but her voice was shaky when she spoke. "I---"

"Not your fault. It was never your fault. I don't even have DNA, Cass. I'm the fucked up thing in this equation, okay?"

"And you shouldn't say stuff like that. I...neither of us realized how hard it was going to be because of my ability and your heritage, okay? I'm not made to...well there wouldn't even be this weird co-parenting situation if you weren't like you are. If it were just me and my mutation, there'd never be anything."

"Cass---"

"No, I have to get this out here cause it's too hard and if I don't, I won't ever. I'm fucked up. Obviously your body knew it or you'd never have gotten pregnant in college. I'm the useless one here, okay?"

"You're not useless," he said, placing his hand over hers and hoping she didn't rabbit or, um, wallaby as the case may have been. "There wouldn't be a baby if you weren't contributing half the DNA. You know?"

"If I'm so wonderful, why did you sleep with her?"

"Cassie and I were pretty heavily fucked up. Anna Fortune packs a wallop," he defended.

"No, I mean why did you sleep with her , Kon. Do you even remember her name? With all you can do with your mind, did you retain it?"

"I never really bothered to ask," he admitted, sighing but making no move to stop her when she removed her hand and began to pace. 

"I see. What did she have that I didn't? What was it about fucking her that was better than comforting your wife?"

"I...are we doing this now? Half my family is gonna be here tomorrow for names and things. Can this wait?"

Cass glared at him and there was frost covering everything in the room, just like that. "I've avoided this topic for a very long time. For the baby's sake, I've tried not to think about why we weren't together or how badly things crashed after Carter died, but as good as training with you is, as good a father as I'll believe you'll be, as well as we still work together, I can't bury that question forever. What was so good about her?"

"Nothing. She wasn't anything. Jesus Cass, I couldn't tell you her fucking name. I did it wrong okay."

Cass sighed and exhaled slowly. "That'll never be a good enough answer. I care about you. Lara's not wrong. I loved you, still do."

He swallowed. "I know."

"I love our child."

"No doubt of that," he said, cradling his stomach. 

"But until you have a better answer, I can't ever trust you completely again. I can be your wife or you anything beyond time sharing co-parent. You do understand that, right? It hurts, Kon. Everything I ever wanted was torn out from under me because of my fucking mutation and the one person in the world who was supposed to make it better...you made it a million times worse."

"I'm sorry."

The temperature began to warm and she nodded. "I know you are. I believe that you are, but I don't trust if things broke truly bad that you wouldn't do it again, Connor, and that scares me more than anything Lex or Doomsday or the Joker Gang could do. Do you understand that? That I can't shatter like that again, ever."

"Yes, I do understand but I can't prove a negative. I can't show you that something will never happen again cause, frankly, that same situation is never gonna happen again."

"I know...I...you are a good man, Kon, for the most part. You're a good parent, but I just...wallaby."

"Huh?"

"I know I brought this up."

"Technically I did the unthinkable and said Carter's name."

"But I pressed it. We do well if we don't actually talk about anything."

"We talk about a lot of things," he countered. "Because of you, I'm actually embracing my history. Now a lot of it is the begats but it's not so bad. I really enjoyed the stories about the original Kal-El and want to know more about the Mo that Moira's also named after. But you're why I did it. Not to impress you, I'm not an idiot, but because I want to be better, be that knowledgeable guy for her ," he finished gripping his stomach more tightly. 

"But we can't talk about what happened or about what we lost. It's like we built a bridge out of tissue paper and anything can tear it. I...it's better if we wait a little longer. We have to deal with what happened when Carter died before she's born because we fell apart instead of coming together and we don't get that luxury ever again. Ever. We have to be strong for her. It comes with raising a Kryptonian, I've been told."

"I know."

"Good, then maybe we need to think how not to pull apart, but, for right now, 'wallaby,' okay? We'll deal with mending this in little pieces because we can't fly off the handle or break this time."

"Agreed."

"So Terry's getting better with the pregnancy then?"

"Yeah, he was not even staring at my stomach by seventh inning stretch. I'm more...god between Mo trying to pretend he didn't exist and Jax being a pod person, it was still a weird night."

Cass sighed. "I noticed that too. I haven't seen him off duty in over a decade. I lost that part of your family when things happened. Mo or your mom, sure, I'd see them, but they're all the way in California and he just wasn't really on my radar. He seems so reserved."

"I can't remember the last time I saw him outside of the 'Tower. I visited Alura a lot because they just weren't that far even by human standards when I was in San Fran, but he tended to be working on something or on patrol. He's still him with Nala and Max, but he's just so---"

"Shut down," she finished for him. "I know everything crashed even harder for him with Jessie's death, what a clusterfuck. Made what happened with us and Carter look paltry."

"It wasn't lesser," Kon said. "Just different. I can't even imagine losing Mo, he's right, and her daughters too, Jesus."

"Secret identity breaches," Cass said, shivering. "Those of us with mortal family are always terrified over it. I just...I dunno, I thought maybe he was more relaxed when not on duty. It's like he's never off now, isn't it?"

Kon sighed. "Yeah, it is. I don't even...Alura tempers him so well, but even they've been having issues."

Cass snorted. "They're like perfect."

"Yeah, they and the rugrats are cute but not perfect. Lur says they're arguing over what to tell Nala cause it's time and Dax-Ur, well, the nice way to put it is that things could have gone better if Dax-Ur had made different choices."

Cass narrowed her eyes. "I'm with Fawkes. I'd never say this to Jax or to Max and Nala but Dax-Ur was a cowardly asshole. He let a whole planet die cause he could. If he'd opened his mouth---"

"I wouldn't exist, neither would she," Kon defended, stroking his stomach. "I think it's fair to tell her everything. It's not my child, but Nala should know that her grandfather invented a lot of good things too, that one mistake doesn't define someone."

Cass didn't say anything but the way she stared at him, he knew it wasn't just Dax-Ur's great mistake she was thinking over. "No it shouldn't. I just am so sorry for what all of you lost, what our daughter lost. It was so wrong."

"And it happened long before my dad even got to Earth. I just want Jax to be able to see that we don't...The House of Ur isn't less than ours. I don't think he can. I don't even know what he sees anymore."

Cass frowned. "Kon?"

"Nothing, maybe I'm just being gloomy. I just...sometimes I get the worst feeling is all."

"You're not a psychic. Telekinetic, sure. Psychic, not so much."

"Well between the Mo-Terry cold war and Jax's personality reboot, it's just been a bad night. Then we get into it."

Cass shook her head and sat back next to him, placing her hand over his stomach even though there still was nothing yet to feel. "We'll always be good, do you understand? I mean romantically, we're fucked all to Hell, but I won't leave again. I won't run away. I'm here for her, no matter how we have to figure this out to be partners, we are going to be. We'll be friends."

"That's exactly what ever guy loves hearing from the mother of his child."

"It's what I have, Kon. I'll be here for you every day of the pregnancy and for both of you every day after. Promise."

He nodded and looked away from her. "I know. I wish I hadn't fucked everything up so much."

She rubbed his stomach, their child. "I dunno, sometimes when you get fucked things improve."  
Back to index  
Chapter 25 by Tobywolf13  
October 15, 2066 

Kon was in the locker room at Watchtower, taking off his gauntlets and trying very hard to breathe. He hadn't seen his cousin Alura in three months. She'd been so busy with Jax and the aftermath of what he'd done and what the League's terms for him were that, and he'd been throwing himself into patrol in San Francisco. Neither of them had been doing more than the bare minimum for the League and when Alura hadn't been on deck in the last emergency, he'd not thought much of it.

When they'd had shift together tonight, it'd clicked why she'd not been around.

She was pregnant.

"Kon?"

"You shouldn't be here," he said, unclasping his cape and folding it up. Sighing, he turned and glanced at her stomach. "What are you? Seven weeks?"

Alura blushed. "Reconnaissance only. Between Cass finishing up law school and Jax...we're a few down right now and I can press a button on an intercom system without hurting me or the baby. Your dad was on duty here with Mo a bit."

"Ceremonial, mainly, to keep him from going stir-crazy. You knew two weeks ago, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I had to get clearance from Dr. Thomkins before I could even do monitoring duties. I was going to tell you tonight. I...just mom, dad and Jax know."

"Lara?"

"The Fortress isn't thrilled. I can't decide if it hate Dax-Ur or Zor-El more. But Lara's polite enough."

Kon nodded. "No one likes Jor-El. He's an ass."

Alura straightened her glasses and chuckled. "Definitely. We wanted to let you know after I had my first round of check-ups to make sure she was healthy."

Kon swallowed. It was selfish and irrational but if the baby had been a boy, he probably wouldn't be able to speak right then. "I...congratulations. What did Lara and Dr. Thomkins have to say? Do you need anything? Does mom need to do anything?"

Alura blushed and looked away. "Jax and I...we're the same. They think it should be easiest of any of us because it's two human-Kryptonians. It won't---"

"Be like Carter."

"I was going to just say 'high risk,'" she said, rubbing his forearm. "I'd never bring him up. You know that."

"I know...I'm sorry. I need to be better at taking news. I'm happy for you, both of you actually."

"Thank you. You've been distant lately. We're only in Berkeley. You could always come visit. I know you can't...I wouldn't be able to see a pregnancy this soon either. I just mean that when she's born, I think she'd like to get to know her Uncle Kon."

He nodded and finished pulling on his t-shirt. "I'd like that. Give me a few minutes to process everything. I don't know why I'm surprised. You two are married. It's been over a year since then. These things sort of progress like that."

"Yeah, it just...we weren't even trying. I---"

"You don't have to feel guilty. Other people are going to have families. Lur, you deserve this, okay. You'll be a great mom. Some people are made to be parents and I guess others just don't have it in the cards."

"I know. I just wish this didn't suck too. You wanted so badly and I just wish she had a cousin already is all," she offered. 

"How's Jax doing with this?"

She frowned. "Why does that feel loaded?"

He shrugged and grabbed his duffle bag, making sure to secure his locker door. "Alura, you know I love him."

"Uh-huh."

"He's family, and by blood or not is bullshit."

"Following."

"I...is it really the right time for him to have a kid?"

She frowned but stood straighter. If he'd asked the same thing of Mo, she'd have yelled at him. If he'd asked it of Jax, himself, the other man wouldn't have answered at all. Alura had a patience and a composure they all could use more of. "When is the best time, Kon?"

"Two years ago, he...you know what he did."

"Say it, Kon. Say it out loud."

"He killed six people. Uncle Bruce and Shayera had him cuffed with Blue K permanently and he's only not in prison cause it's a waste of our best strategist to let him rot as murky as that is."

"Is this a witch hunt?"

"No, Alura, this is me being your cousin. As much as I love Jax, I love you more. I...do you think he's in a place to start a family. He's still recovering."

She sighed and considered his words. "I love him and I trust him and he's a good person. I...sometimes people snap, Kon. It doesn't mean they don't get second chances or lose the right to have a life too."

"I know but it's only been two years since everything, since he lost his family, since he took things into his own hands, since he got put on permanent probation. I dunno if he's ready to be a dad."

"Maybe it's something he does need. I mean everything else is removed, isn't it? Academia, Watchtower logistics. We want this and it's something grounding. I can't believe you'd even question things like this."

"I just wanted to make sure. I don't even know who any of us are anymore, save for you."

She blushed. "Yeah right."

"No, you I know, but back three years ago everything made sense. Cass and I, You and Jax, the way things were still fucking intact. Now I don't know what any of us are capable of. I certainly didn't expect to turn out like I did."

"And everyone deserves a second chance, Kon. Uncle Kal said as much when it came time and Bruce just wanted Jax locked away. The shit your dad pulled in Metropolis on Red K, he knows what it's like to need to make amends, so did a lot of the original Bros frankly."

"I want Jax to have that, I do. I just wonder if he's ready."

Alura giggled and kissed his cheek. "He wasn't the only one who should get a second shot."

"I don't deserve forgiveness, Lur."

"Well then it's good for you that it's just given."  
**

March 17, 2077 

Kon blinked. Shook his head. Blinked again.

No he wasn't hallucinating.

His niece was sitting in his loft, wearing all green even up to the shamrock-laden headband in her hair. It was one p.m. on a school day and she hadn't been scheduled to visit.

"Nala?"

She nodded and, as he approached her, he could tell she'd been crying. "Yeah, it's me."

"Uh, sweetheart, don't take this oddly, but nothing randomly burst into flame around you do today did it?"

His niece scrubbed at her eyes and shook her head. "Was it supposed to?"

"Not necessarily," he said, crouching down next to her on his mattress. "Why aren't you in Berkeley. Hell, why aren't you at school?"

"It hurts," she said, sniffling more and burying her head in the pillow on her lap. 

Kon blinked and, taking a moment out, sped around his apartment to turn off any extraneous machines running. It made sense why she'd come here. Everyone in his family, even Max, knew that his hearing was acutely sensitive. It was something Kon had learned to rein in but had never abated the way it would have if he wasn't a mutt. Every place he lived in was as sound-proofed as Thanagarian technology could provide.

"When did it flare up?"

"At lunch. The bell went off like always and I thought I was gonna die. I can't make the ringing stop. In fact it's like I can hear everything."

"You came here?"

She nodded. "I know you hear like this."

"You should have called Aunt Chloe on the cellphone. She could make it feel better at least for a while, and you definitely should have called your parents first and asked permission to speed here. You can travel fast; it doesn't mean that you should."

"I know, but it hurt and I couldn't make it stop."

"I know," he said, pulling out his cell and pressing three on speed dial. "Yeah, Jax? Uh-huh, you're missing one. No, Nala. She's here it's her hearing. It's acting up pretty badly. Right, see you both in an hour after you get Max settled."

"Was he mad?" she asked, as he clicked his phone off.

"Worried, but I assume you're going to be grounded, yes. They're really just more sorry."

Nala considered this and curled tighter into the pillows. "It really hurts."

"I know. They'll bring Aunt Mo, at least. Someone should be able to take the edge off and tomorrow I'll help you practice filtering things out."

"Does everyone hear like this?"

"Everyone in the world or everyone in our family?"

"B, obviously there are a lot of things we do that non-metas don't."

He sighed, his stomach churning at the need to lie. She was too young still. "I don't know. I hear a lot of stuff, all the time. Everyone else filters it better than I do, but you could just be adjusting to how we normally hear. I mean your mom's hearing is very, very acute."

"Dad's isn't."

Kon looked down at his hands and tried to think what to say next. "It was once, then he got very sick and now it's not. It doesn't mean that he couldn't, just that he won't ever again."

"What did he catch?"

"What?"

"I know he was like mom once or you, that he could do more than just the TK stuff. What did he catch?"

Explaining Lex was impossible, the manacle-come-punishment on Jax's wrist more impossible still. "He just did."

"Grown-up things," she snorted. 

"Those, yeah. Things for when you're older."

"I'll be twelve soon."

"I know, older than that."

She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "You and mom and dad and Aunt Mo; Aunt Kara and Uncle Kal have a lot of 'grown up things.'" 

"Yes."

"Do I want to know them?"

"I tell you what, I'm going to get my sketchpad and draw you a leprechaun---"

"Lame!"

"And you're going to try being very still until Aunt Mo can patch you up."

She sighed and squeezed his hand. "You're a good uncle."

"I try."

"But you're terrible and changing topics."  
**

March 22, 2077 

Jax shook his head as Kon sat next to him out on their porch. "Poor kid."

"She's getting the hang of it. You can work around it. It's just a bitch, really, and you can never ever ever yanno with her in the house or even neighborhood again."

Jax blinked and took a swig of his beer. "I...what now?"

"You...Alura...sex," Kon hissed. "Don't even think about doing it when she's in the same zip code."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah, I've heard it more than once. I heard it a lot more than once when they were trying for Mo. Some sounds cannot be unheard."

"Wait, decades' worth of splitting migraines and your big regret is sometimes you overheard Clark and Chloe?"

"If it had been your mom and Steve once upon a time?"

"I see your point. We'll make thoughtful arrangements then. I don't want her to overhear it either."

"Yeah, it's really uncomfortable the morning after," Kon admitted. "You'll have to be extremely careful about any League or Kryptonian stuff you talk about. She'll focus on you guys like a default, especially Alura's heartbeat to center herself. It was the only thing I knew to do. It's how dad harnessed his with mom and me on mom too. It works but it means she'll probs just catch Alura and bits of conversation on her own hook without meaning to."

"Well, it's almost time. She's not stupid, anymore than the rest of us were, and we figured next year some time, a little before she turns thirteen."

"I was gonna say. She has her own set of questions," Kon said, gesturing toward Jax's wrist.

The other man said nothing for a while but drained his drink. Raising his left arm, he shook it to make the manacle move a bit. "I can't answer them. I think 'dad's on permanent lockdown's' a little much in way of explanation. I...that has to come some time, Kon, I get that, believe me I do. But I think my story and the Kryptonian one aren't the same and aren't all for one day."

"No, I doubt that they are. I was just saying; it's not like she isn't acutely aware that you can't do what Alura does even though she knows you could once."

"Well we all have our eccentricities. Next year, we'll explain the phone home thing. I don't want a disaster like you were."

"Fair enough."

"But...I don't know how to explain what I did to a kid."

"How would you explain it to me?"

Jax blinked. "You know what happened. You were there."

"I still don't understand it. We don't...there's a reason they have courts and juries and prisons, Jax."

"And when the person who really deserves it gets off on a technicality and you can't do anything cause of Double Jeopardy, then you get to snap their neck."

Kon swallowed and shivered. "You're not sorry."

"I spend my life protecting a system that is fundamentally broken because it's the best we have and it's what I promised to do. I have given so much of my time even before I was a Titan to saving people and when I couldn't save Jessie, when I couldn't save the girls, the system owed me something. It owed me something when I couldn't get there in time. It spat in my face."

"Joe Chill got off."

"I'm not Bruce. No, Kon, I'm not sorry I did it. I'm not ever going to be sorry I did it, if I really do live to be a thousand. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing."

"Jax---"

"I wouldn't change a thing," he said, waving his left arm. "Except for one."

"What?"

"I wouldn't have let the League put this on my arm. I allowed it; they didn't make me."

"Dad could have---"

Jax set his drink down and said nothing. Instead it was the large oak in the backyard splintering to sawdust that interrupted Kon's sentence. "I dunno, but it would have been interesting if I'd resisted, wouldn't it?"  
**

May 5, 2078 

Everything was tense around the Kent Farm's living room. Nala was sitting on the sofa, bookended by her parents, Alura's arm wrapped around her shoulder. Kon and his dad were both sitting in rockers on either ends of the room. His mom stood next to his dad, while Cass was sitting Indian style on the floor in front of him, her hand in his. Mo was leaning against the fire place, and Aunt Kara was back in California babysitting for both Max and Uncle Jimmy. 

"Um, does anyone else get the Spanish Inquisition feeling from me visiting? Cause I do," Nala said, looking between everyone uneasily. "I thought we were coming to be all excited about Aunt Chloe and Aunt Cass being pregnant?"

Cass squeezed his hand and he felt a slight sweep of goosebumps over his arm. "Well, that's a way to put it."

"Yeah, and everyone is all so gloomy since I got here and I'm really confused and, no offense Aunt Cass but you're not terribly big for four months."

He looked to his father. Dad was the oldest member of the House in the room. It was his story to tell. "Nala, sweetie, Cass and Chloe aren't pregnant."

Nala blinked. "But we came to town for baby naming. That's what we're doing. No one just fakes a baby for months!"

"Well Lex Luthor might," Kon said without thinking much about it.

His mother glared at him before continuing. "There are babies."

"Okay, is the stork real? Cause I had sex ed already and he's not supposed to be."

Alura sighed and squeezed Nala's shoulder. "This is really hard."

"I don't understand."

His dad sighed and leaned forward towards here. "Sweetheart, I have to tell you something about all of us, about our powers and, before I do, I want you to understand that it changes a lot but it doesn't change everything and it doesn't change that you have a family who loves you."

"Is someone besides Grandpa Jimmy sick?"

Alura flinched but recovered enough to shake her head. "No, no one's sick."

"Nala, we're not meteor mutants," his dad finished. "Your aunt Kara and I, your dad's father too, are all from a planet called Krypton."

Nala giggled. "Yeah right."

"There are Martians, Hawk People, and Green Lanterns. Aliens exist," Jax said.

"But daddy they have red eyes or wings or look like pigs or something. We look like everyone else."

"Mostly," his dad replied. "Most of the time you'd never know the difference. When your mom uses her heat vision it looks not quite human."

"No, we're mutants and is this a practical joke?" she said looking over her shoulder as if expecting someone to burst out and shout surprise.

"I'm serious," his dad said. "We're aliens or at least you're part Kryptonian."

Nala frowned and looked around the room, taking in the faces of a half dozen people who'd rather be anywhere else. "You believe this?"

"There's a Fortress, a computer archive left to me from there. We were going to take you after the names were chosen. I have a few things here on the farm that are from Krypton, a few holographic projectors and discs. I know that a standard reaction is usually denial. I laughed in my dad's face when he told me too."

Nala looked between her parents and collapsed heavily in Alura's arms. "I...no offense to the Lantern Corp or Martian Manhunter but I don't want to sign up to be in the extraterrestrial club."

Mo considered that and Kon tensed, anticipating she'd say something incredibly stupid. "We all understand, believe us. Except for Aunt Kara, none of us knew. Dad was sent here as a baby and no one told him until he was fourteen. Mom and dad didn't tell Kon until dad was pregnant with me and Kon told me---"

Nala blinked. "What?"

"Cass and Mom aren't pregnant but dad and Kon are," Mo said. "I...it's not always how it works. It's a contingency if there's fertility issues. Since Alura and Jax are both half-human/half-Kryptonian, there weren't complications and Alura carried you."

"I know she was definitely pregnant with Max," Nala conceded. "I...I'm not...this is...we're not aliens."

Jax sighed and took her hand in his. "That's the standard reaction, yes, and, no, we're not flashy like the Lanterns or something. We're not stupid. None of us have ever been keen on being out."

"Cause of what people might do if they knew where to track down an alien and not just see them occasionally in spandex like on TV," Nala finished and Kon could hear her heart speed up. It didn't take a genius to add alien plus government officials together either.

"Yes," his mom said. "We always wait. It's not safe to tell a child something like this. Max isn't here because he's too young to understand about Kon and Clark, and too little to know when not to say things in front of strangers."

"I'm not even thirteen!"

"I was your age when someone told me," Alura conceded. "Mo wasn't much older either. I...it's a catch-22. We can't just let you grow up knowing cause it puts all of us in danger but waiting too late is almost as mean."

"I didn't react well when they dropped it on me when I was fifteen," Kon said in possibly the greatest understatement of all time. "There's basically a time when this doesn't suck, but earlier, like just pulling off a Band-Aid instead of avoiding it, is better."

"I'm an alien," Nala said, almost as if she were also tasting the words.

"Well half," his dad admitted. "Grandpa Jimmy is human and your Grandma Mary was as well. I don't know if that makes is better or not."

"I...you're both having babies and I'm an alien."

Alura kissed her daughter's temple. "Yes, I think that's a start for now."

"I'm an alien, my uncles are pregnant, and no one can ever find out about us or we'll be cut into tiny pieces."

"No," Jax said and his tone was easily as commanding as his father when he did that Superman voice. "No one would ever get to you. They'd go through me first."

There was a pause where no one else said anything but politely looked away.

"But they could find out and---"

"It's been mostly quiet for us for almost a century. Your Uncle Kal landed here in 1989 and, yes, there have been some close calls but we're all still here," Alura said.

"Close calls?"

"That's a lot to take in at once," Kon said. "We're safe now. We've protected you and Max and we intend to keep doing it until you've mastered all your abilities."

"Beyond that," his mother said. "We're not going anywhere and you have your family, Nala."

"I...thank you but my brain isn't processing anything. I just keep thinking if we're from Krypton, no offense to Earth cause I like it here, why didn't we visit or go back or are there more of us all over? Like some of us hiding all over the world? Help me out here."

Kon looked at Jax, waiting to see what he'd say about his House, about Brainiac and Dax-Ur.

He kept silent.

The whole room remained so until his dad answered Nala's question. "There was a civil war and a genocide on the Krypton. It was why Grandma Kara and I were sent away as children. The planet didn't survive the war and we've looked for almost a century. Minus Max and Grandma Kara, every Kryptonian we know of in the universe is right here."

Nala eyes started tearing up and, while her voice trembled, she still managed to speak. "I'm an alien."

"Yes, sweetheart," his dad said gently.

"The planet doesn't exist at all anymore so we're stranded here."

"Yes," his dad answered, keeping command of the room.

"And this is all of us there is at all except for grandma and Max. Oh and the babies that you and Uncle Kon are pregnant with."

"That's correct. Do you need to go and lie down with your mom and dad for a bit. It'd be better if you did that than locked yourself in a room or ran away or hid out in a cemetery or---"

She frowned. "Huh?"

Cass smiled sadly. "Kryptonians can be high strung. If you did take a minute to just step out on the porch and scream as loudly as you could, we'd understand."

"I, no, I just think I'd like to lie down and talk with my parents. This is why I came a day early before Aunt Cass's family came."

"My brother and stepmom know," Cass clarified. "But this is something for those tied to the New Council."

"New Council?"

"It's a joke," Kon clarified. "Real Krypton had a Council, like a planetary parliament. It's sort of what we call ourselves. Mom and Cass and your grandfather are part of it because they have Kryptonian children. It's really overblown for like ten people but it's not really Mindy and Jason's business what happens with the Council. This is for us and for you. What do you need?"

"I just need to lay down. Of all the things you could have told me today. This was not even on my radar."

"Understandable, sweetheart," Jax said, stroking her shoulder. "You and your mom can go upstairs and I'll be right up."

"Good, I---"

"What Nala?" Alura pressed.

"I...what about Grandpa Dax? He wasn't just a kid when he got here. I don't understand."

Kon glared at his brother, seeing where Jax would take it.

"He was already here; that's true," Jax admitted. "He was doing research here and he fell in love with my mom."

"And what happened to him. It's not like Uncle Kal or Grandma Kara are all old and wrinkly, no offense."

"None taken," his father said. "No we age much more slowly than humans but you always knew that, assumed it was a meta thing. Dax-Ur died before Kon was born."

"How? We don't get sick."

"He was murdered," Kon said simply. "You see---"

"Kon, enough. That's enough for right now before giving Nala a run down on the Legion of Doom, okay?" Jax said.

"Huh?" she asked.

"What happened to your grandfather is a lot to take in your first day and it happened over sixty years ago," Alura added, standing up and pulling Nala with her. "Come on, I'll get you some warm milk and whatever you need, okay? It's hard I know."

"Is dad coming?"

"I will in a second," he said, glaring back at Kon. "I have something to say to your uncle."  
**

"I'm dead aren't I?" Kon asked, following Jax out onto the porch. 

"No, and that's not a funny joke. How dare you, Kon-El."

"We on a full name basis?"

"You gripe all the time about Mo stampeding around in your life to Lur. It's my father. It's my history and how I choose to explain Brainiac and Dax-Ur to Nala, who's known all of thirty minutes she's not fully human, is my business ."

"She did ask. She's not stupid."

"When your daughter comes of age, would you like me to sit her down and explain to her why Cass and you time share?"

"Fuck you."

"Didn't think so. What Dax-Ur did hurts me every day of my life, every time I think about it. We're all stranded here, forced to lie and hide and realize there's no one else coming to make it all better because my dad fucked up."

"He didn't make Brainiac on purpose, not as a war machine, I mean."

"He made it anyway and he let it happen. You can be passively evil, Kon."

"We talked about that in history in once; I'm familiar with the concept. But your dad wasn't---"

"I don't want them to know, ever, about Dax-Ur having created Brainiac. Not ever. Can you and the rest of our family respect that. They shouldn't have to feel like I do."

"We don't even care!"

"I care," he said, pausing to collect himself. "I care. Your House is the amazing place full of scientists and world leaders and freaking Superman."

"And yeah all of them are dead and gone anyway."

"Between me and my dad, there's nothing in the House of Ur for Max and Nala to be proud of."

Kon couldn't stop himself from focusing on Jax's manacle. "Will you never tell her about either part of it?"

"One day I'll explain what I did and why I'm on permanent probation, yes. I figure it'll be a condition of J'onn's before Nala's ever allowed even to be a Titan. Warning about the Darth Vader in her family."

"Not funny, Jax."

"I wasn't being flippant. I'm serious.

Kon sighed and looked away. "I know."

"If Clark had had his way I wouldn't know what a useless coward my dad was either."

"I---"

"It goes both ways. If you hadn't wanted to be a complete asshole to my face and dig it in in your Lana-phase, I'd never know, and I think that's for the best. I mean, I know I'm not like related to Zod or something, but it makes me feel like shit to know that I exist at the cost of billions of people. It'll always suck. So if you have a soul, Connor Sullivan, you won't tell her or Max."

"But we don't hate your dad or your House."

"I do . I mean, honestly Kon, would you tell your daughter that you're related to Lana Luthor?"

"One day, I suppose it's fair."

"Then you're an idiot. Please, for me just don't. She and Max have enough shame to deal with."

"Do you regret what you did yet?"

"I regret it hurts them. I regret it's a black mark, but no, Kon, I did the right thing. Good night."  
***

"Alura, I'm sorry, I'll talk to you in the morning. I'm really tired and I was being a jerk, I admit it," he said, rolling over as the knocking sounded on the other side of his door.

"It's me," Cass said, opening his door. "I wanted to see how you were. You weren't up to talking much after you finished with Jax."

"He was right. I was butting in. If someone were trying to beat me to the punch with what to tell the baby, I'd be pissed too and, yeah, all I have to say is that my bio-mom was a psycho squirrel."

"Nala has a lot to adjust to. You can sympathize with that. Dumping everything on her at once isn't fair and, yeah, it's Jax's father. He does have the right to decide what Nala and Max learn about him."

"Cass," he said, sitting up and turning on his bedside lamp. "It's 1 a.m."

"I was aware," she said. "You just seemed upset."

"There's a spare sleeping bag in the closet. You can lay it on the floor and we can talk with the door shut. I'll keep the lights on and everything." Cass surprised him by sitting next to him on the bed. She was wearing sweatpants and his old Crows t-shirt. It was not exactly negligee. "Uh Cass?"

"I don't want to sleep on the floor and get cramps."

"Uh, wallaby!"

"You're sure?"

He sighed and picked up a husband pillow and a few old stuffed animals from beside his bed. He stacked them in a mountain range between them. "Perfect."

"You're kidding."

"You'll thank me later. We had a weird night last night and everyone's drained from fearing that Nala would pull a me and go postal after the big reveal. Even though you are being sweet and checking up on me, anything that prevents you rabbiting and embarrassed tomorrow morning."

"I know but I was thinking all day. I don't know what to do."

"You don't?"

"You are right, that situation is never going to come up again. I know even if...I know you wouldn't get self destructive again and have drunken sex."

"You mean if she?" he asked, clutching his stomach.

"She won't but you wouldn't either, I hope."

"See you aren't sure."

"But how am I supposed to be sure if I don't even take a chance? I just...I want to trust you, god believe me I do."

"That means a lot," he said, easing a little when she touched his stomach. "I was mad at me, Cass. I was never once mad at you about Carter. Even if part of it is your mutation, I was mad at me, okay? I went to see Dr. Thomkins the day before you found me with...the day before you found me."

"Okay," she said, her voice even.

"She wouldn't say much out loud cause she's a professional and like Lara they don't give blame. But I knew from what she wouldn't say, part of you losing him was me too. I swear it was. I couldn't go to Berkeley to be with you. I couldn't comfort you the right way or at all cause I thought that the last thing you'd want to do."

"You don't think I wanted you to comfort me?"

He sighed and looked away, still grateful her hand was over his stomach. "I thought you wouldn't want to see me cause I killed him."

"I felt that way about me."

"I know. Mo told me, but I wanted to be a normal guy for you, just once. I really believed that if I'd been human, Carter wouldn't have died, at the time. I know now from Lara it wouldn't have changed things but I thought you wouldn't be able to look at me without---"

"I didn't blame you."

"I was gonna say hating me cause God knows I hated myself and I did what my dad did once, not cause I was thinking 'Gee might as well,' but because I thought Red K might make it stop hurting that I wasn't good enough."

"I thought what you did was about me. I thought you were mad at me. I..."

He sighed and rolled over onto his side to face her around a pillow. "I think it's safe to say we both have our issues not just with what happened with Carter but because we both have a hard time dealing with our abilities and what they mean. I know you're not always comfortable with what you can do, especially when it encroaches on daily life stuff."

"I know you think it feels great and maybe it does to you, but my powers are embarrassing at best and if you weren't Kryptonian, frostbite inducing."

"I am trying to understand that. And you already know I fight very hard not to think like I did at fifteen and expect that underneath the surface is some exoskeleton or something."

"Kon---"

"I wish that were hyperbole," he said, glad she'd never seen the self portrait his mom had confronted him on. "I don't think your awful or bad or weird or that what happened was your fault, Cass. I'd never think any of those things. I hated me and I handled it with a bender and that was wrong. I'd give anything not to have put the ring on, but it only lowers my inhibitions. I could have made myself go home alone that night."

"Yes."

"Believe me. I know it cost me everything."

She sighed and stroked the growing bump over his middle. "Maybe not everything. I don't hate you because you're an alien. That's stupid and it would never ever be true. I don't hate you at all, actually."

"Then I don't hate you for being a mutant. I mean chunks of my stupid planet did it. I...if anything ever happens. I wouldn't blame you."

"Mutual."

"There."

"Good," she finished, looking down at where his hand was now over hers. "Where do we go from here?"

Kon sighed and squeezed her hand. "Stay. I'll get out the sleeping bag and make the little fort up on the floor and you can sleep by the foot of the bed. Camp out like in middle school."

"Except where you're four months pregnant with my kid."

"Well there is that. I can't...I'm gonna lose what's left of my guy street cred for this, but I'm not ready for you to be in the same bed again with me, even if there's about six pillows in a great wall between us."

"Understood. I think it's better that way too but let me get everything together. If you could just click the light brighter?"

"Oh sure," he said turning to turn the switch a second notch and studiously avoiding seeing Cass from behind. "I think there's two. There's a power rangers from like third grade and a really good camping one from L.L. Bean. It's blue and crap!"

Cass sighed. "It'd be much easier to see in the Great Loch Ness here if you turned up the light and whoa."

Kon glared at her. "Don't say a word."

Cass struggled and failed not to laugh. "I'm not saying anything."

Kon held up his left hand to which the lamp was frozen solid. "It's not funny."

"It's kind of funny."

He shook his head and aimed a blast of moderate heat vision at the icy mess til it melted, letting the lamp drop to his mattress. "Not funny at all."

"No, I think it's pretty funny. I mean, it makes sense sort of. Your dad started getting TK with you about this time, then he, uh, did the glowing thing with Mo. If we had any doubts she's mine, we don't now."

"It's not funny! What if it gets worse? What if start freezing all sorts of things randomly? I mean what if I get like you do when you get really nervous and can't eat food? How funny is that?"

She sighed and shoved the pillows off the bed, taking his left hand in hers. "I'll teach you how it works tomorrow. Big shock it's psychosomatic. Kon, relax. Compared to your powers, mine are kind of lame."

"I...oh now I'm feeling all weird again."

"Cause the pillow fort's gone?"

"No," he mumbled and stupid hormones. He was not getting all trembly voiced.

"Kon?"

"This isn't serious. It's not tube feeding or transfusions or powers being stripped or anything like with dad but now I just feel stupid all of a sudden. I'm four months pregnant and my best friend totally was staring at me like I had two heads the other day and now I freeze things! I just...ugh."

Cass surprised him by kissing his cheek. She hadn't done it since they started training and certainly not as long. "You should have been a little more careful, Connor Sullivan."

He sighed and rolled over onto his side, ignoring her. "You make me easy, Cass, no fair."  
Back to index  
Chapter 26 by Tobywolf13  
Smallville, Kansas - December 25, 2062 

Kon was stuffed, even his metabolism was working over time today. He'd done the Christmas breakfast thing first with his family (and dad was almost as good at cooking as Grandma Martha had been), then birthday cake at the 'Tower, and, finally, ending with Christmas dinner with Cass's stepmother, Mindy, and her little brother Jason and his wife and sons. Mr. Carpenter---who had always been the best part of Christmas with his snow sculptures---had died three winters earlier of a complications from pneumonia. It hadn't felt right around the table without him, but he still enjoyed spending time with Cass's relatives. He'd practically lived at her house as a kid (or at least had started to after the remarriage and emptying out of meteor rock art from the house), and the tradition of spending her birthday and part of Christmas and Thanksgiving with them had never changed.

"Would you like pie?" Mindy asked, still very pretty in her mid-sixties. Kon was also glad repeated bouts of wedding planning had bridged the gap between Mindy and Cass. Obviously Mindy wasn't her mom, and wasn't ever going to be, but they were much closer now than when Cass had still be in her teens and twenties. It could have helped that Mindy wore age appropriate clothing by now. 

Maybe a little.

Kon eyed the pecan pie clutched in her hands and shook his head. "I had chocolate chip pancakes and fruitcake for breakfast, stew for lunch, and, uh, friends gave me a big chocolate cake for my birthday and then turkey-a-rama here and, basically, you don't want me to Ralph on your nice table cloth."

Mindy chuckled and set the dessert down on the table. "Well we'll save you a piece in case you recover from triptophan poisoning."

Jason also laughed and cut himself an impressive slice. "I'd recover soon Jack and Jeremy eat a lot. It's called being seventeen."

"Well at least they got distracted early by video games and the loot could be mine," Kon said.

Cass eyed Kon. "Yeah he's been there though with growth spurts. I swear the Kents are still each like garbage disposals."

"Oh! Speaking of---" Mindy started.

"Of garbage disposals?" Cass snarked. "Is there something good that comes of that?"

"No but it made me think of food and that made me think of drinks. I have some real egg nog in the fridge if anyone would like something stronger. You really like that stuff, Cass."

She blushed and took Kon's hand under the table. "I...actually, I can't right now."

"Because you're going to drive?" Elena, Jason's wife, asked. It was not the obvious question to ask, perhaps, with a lead in like that, but, on the other hand, everyone knew that he and Cass had been trying for a very long time with no success to conceive. Elena was being polite. Kon appreciated it. She was a quiet woman, who reminded him a little of Alura, or maybe that quiet reserve came from dealing with boisterous young men all the time. Lord knew that Jack and Jeremy could give Jax a run for his money in the immaturity Olympics.

Cass smiled and leaned in closer to him. "Actually, no, I'm about two months pregnant."

Kon's hearing flared with the customary girly squeals coming from Mindy and Elena. He'd be wanting an aspirin that actually worked on him later tonight.

"That's great," Mindy said.

Jason nodded. "I assumed after so long that you two had just decided to take a break."

"No, we never stopped, we just hadn't wanted to tell anyone until the first rounds of doctor's visits came back well and we were sure it was going to take."

"That's wise," Elena said.

"But if we'd like to start going with you to some of them, be all supportive and start with the buying of cute baby things?" Mindy asked.

Cass sighed and looked at Kon. "Ah, you can't exactly come to the check-ups. I...I get them from my night job."

That was the best euphemism Cass had for her role on the League. After the first wedding that wasn't when half her guest list left without a word at the same time the Justice League was thwarting evil across town, well, Mindy and Jason would have had to be brain damaged not to put pieces together when they already knew Cass was "gifted."

Elena frowned but said nothing. Cass had never told her about being Ice Queen. Spreading identities around was dangerous. It had taken her decades to tell her family, and only after his stupid bio-mom and Lex made it impossible for them not to notice. She was not so disposed to let her sister-in-law know or, at least, she hadn't.

"Oh, I suppose that makes a lot of sense, though," Mindy said. "They must have very good medical care."

"The best," Kon added. "I should know, I pay for it, but I...there are some things about the baby we need to tell you and that we don't want to have go beyond this room, even the boys. I...the only reason Cass and I decided to be this honest at all is because our 'night work' comes with a lot of uncertainty to it and most of the people we know well are in it. We wanted other options."

Jason frowned but kept eating his slice. "Okay, just so we're clear, I'm going to say right now that you both work for the Justice League---I'd suspected for a very long time with you Kon, of course, I'd just never said anything---and that it's okay to say this in front of Elena."

Kon swallowed. He'd been trained very well by his parents about the Kryptonian things and by his Uncle Bruce about League security, but sometimes things outweighed those secrets. Didn't make his instinctive panic easier to quell. "Yeah I am and yeah, now would be the time to admit that. I...it's nothing personal, just business. The less people who know, the safer it is."

Elena looked between him and Cass and he tried to ignore the scrutiny. He was sure she had chocked them both up as mutants. You couldn't be fifty three but look twenty and not be an obvious meta. It was, of course, a leap from meteor-mutant to superhero.

"You're serious."

Cass nodded, strengthened by her stepmother and brother's attention. "Yeah. I'm sorry, like Kon said, it's safer not to let civilians know and so we don't, if we don't have to."

"You're superheroes."

"Ah, yeah," Kon said, unsure if this was going to go badly or not. Normal human were hard to read sometimes.

"Superheroes come over to my house all the time when it looks like a tornado hit it? Oh god, the rest of your family is preternaturally young, are they?"

"No comment," Cass said. "But your house is always very nice."

"Bullshit it is. I mean, superheroes all this time? Shit, how many superheroes were at your not-weddings?"

"No comment," Kon said, grinning, amused. "But some probably."

"I just...oh god!"

Cass was giggling now. "You've know me for twenty years and you're worried now I'm judging you cause I'm sometimes on CNN in spandex? Do you know that jumps all logic right?"

"But you're famous and have powers and are...oh man, if I'd known, I'd at least have had a no curlers thing on family holiday early mornings!"

Kon laughed too. "This is not the reaction I expected. I...it's not actually being famous cause no one knows who we are and it's not like we can help that the media shows up. It just does."

Elena was still looking between them like they'd morphed into English royalty at the table. "I just really feel schlubby all of a sudden. All the times I complained to you, Cass, about getting like brownies baked after work for the boys' bake sales and then having enough time to double check our taxes...I mean, you must think my problems sound so stupid."

"Not really," she said. "Technically, we still have to do that stuff too and, frankly, we've been patrolling so long that we've learned time management. If I didn't like you, trust me, I'd not take your calls."

Mindy shrugged. "This is true."

Cass flushed, shamed a little by her own brat stage. "But, yeah, we work for the League but we weren't actually telling you that for you to start up a fanclub or anything."

"Then what do you want?" Jason asked, setting his fork down and pushing his plate away.

"Well we wanted you to be the baby's godparents. Nothing's ever happened yet, I mean obviously we're still sitting here," Cass said quietly. "But if something were to happen, we'd want you to have him."

Elena frowned. She was a physician's assistant working at the biggest pediatrician's office in Smallville. "That must be wishful thinking. If you said you're at what eight weeks?"

"We know the sex," Kon said.

"No, you can't."

"We can. Uh, Cass only gets half her appointments at the League. She gets the other half from, well, this is going to sound incredibly stupid."

Jason arched an eyebrow at him, as if in a dare. "You won't know until you say it out loud."

"This is really hard and this never leaves this room. The boys can never know, ever, and if this leaked it'd be deadly for my whole family and for the baby."

"Because you're in the League?" Mindy asked, also struggling to keep up in the cloak and dagger of it all.

Cass squeezed his hand. "Kon, it's okay. I promise."

He nodded. It was a stupid sounding sentence to say, as if he were drugged or insane. "My dad's not actually a mutant. I mean, I'm not a mutant either cause I get my powers from my dad. He's, well, he prefers the term 'intergalactic traveler.'"

Jason blinked. "You're saying you're an alien?"

"Half," Kon corrected. "Technically my biological mother was human, even if she acted like Satan."

Everyone was quiet for a long time. No one actively tried to get a torch out, so Kon was taking it as a potentially positive sign.

"I'm sorry, Kon, let me...I know there are aliens...everyone knows that now but I'm having a moment," Elena said.

He quirked his head at her. "If it makes you feel better I'm not like scaly underneath or have big black eyes or a finger that glows when I fix geraniums."

Mindy laughed, some of the tension she was carrying broken. "That's a shame. Everyone loves E.T."

Elena nodded and still studied him and Kon looked at his plate. "Your whole family?"

"Um, not my mom, no, but my dad and my sister, of course. The baby...he'd be like me. I mean, he'd probably get some of Cass's abilities with freezing things, but he'd get the lion's share of mine too. Speed, strength, invulnerability, flight---"

Jason nodded. "Like Superman."

"Well, yeah, pretty much. I...he won't get them until he's older. It takes time to get them all and most as a teenager. But yeah, we wanted you to know about us and about what I am so you have more of an idea about what you'd agree to as godparents."

"Are you Superman, Kon?" Elena asked, confused.

"No, actually. That would be one of my family, yes, but I'm not quite that impressive, I don't think. But same basic bunch of abilities. I mean, this whole thing is only a big deal if something happened to both of us and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to Cass or me for a real long time. I---"

"We know it's presumptuous to dump a superpowered child on someone, if things did go badly, but we'd been thinking about this since I was sure I was pregnant. We could make someone in the League or someone from Kon's family a godparent, but, frankly, we want it to be someone who isn't in that lifestyle, doesn't have life and death battles and risks of their own. You have every right to say know and if that happens, we'll just ask my friend Cassie Sandsmark."

"Night job?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be ideal. But we're really not planning on going anywhere either," Cass answered. "You can think about it. You don't have to answer at all right now and we won't be offended. Promise."

"Cass, you're my big sister, of course I'm gonna say yes." Jason replied. "Just tell me I'm not going to have a nephew who can heat vision me before he's six."  
**

"You were very quiet after everything at dinner," Mindy said, setting a plate of pie in front of him as he sat staring at A Christmas Story for the second time that night. Ralphie was about to shoot his eye out again. Cass was upstairs talking more with her brother and Elena, probably doing more of the Q&A she was sparing him. The boys were still in the basement playing Halo . He'd helped Mindy clean the kitchen, doing so in regular speed just to have time to think and something to do with his hands.

"Yeah, well Cass was fielding everything and she's more articulate than I am."

"Eat up."

"That's such a mom thing to say," he griped, taking a bite. "Sugar is nice though."

"Helps with stress, yes."

"I'm not---"

Mindy arched an eyebrow at him and sat down in her recliner. "You just told us something you've sat on around this family for over fifty years. Clearly, it's not something you tell anyone unless it's unavoidable. That's hard."

"Well you guys took it very well. I still think Elena might have superhero and rock star mixed up a little, but it went really well. Sometimes it doesn't."

"Can I ask when?"

"Mo had a fiance once, back when she was about to graduate college. He spread things about her to his friends. Mom's actually a metahuman so Mo started off just trying to claim that's all she was too. His roommates knew that much and we were so scared that when she told him she was Kryptonian that that was the ballgame. He'd tell the wrong people and we'd be property of Uncle Sam in little plexi-glass boxes."

"Did you bribe him?"

He shook his head. "We persuaded him to stay quiet, in a manner of speaking, but it was bad. I've always been lucky. I mean Cass knew I had powers cause she caught me on the playground. My parents...they told me when I was fifteen, the fall mom got pregnant with Mo." He'd spare his dad a little, there was no need for them to know about a power that their son would never use.

"That makes sense that they waited."

"Yeah but it was Cass and I couldn't wait to tell her cause someone had to be in on the crazy train with me."

"I'm glad she was there for you."

"Me too. I had other friends in high school and it just drifted from there because what was I gonna talk to them about? Midterms? Didn't seem relevant compared to all the scary alien stuff in my life."

"May I ask you a question?"

"Is it personal?"

"It's not about your abilities or the League," she amended.

He took another bite and laughed as the bloodhounds onscreen started to tear through Ralphie's family's kitchen. "Shoot."

"You're embarrassed."

He sighed and considered her words. "I'd rather be sitting her without clothes on than having you know my secret, yes."

"You shouldn't be. You're a good person."

"I like to think that if people could do what I can, they'd join the League too. I know that's flawed logic but---"

"No, I mean not the alter ego part. No one's ever made Cass happier, especially now. You could be a giraffe and I'd not complain."

"Uh thanks, I think."

"I wanted to make my point. You're family. The baby is family even if he's more colorful than my other grandkids. Don't think anything else of it."

Kon smiled and went back to his pie. He knew he'd always liked Cass's stepmom.  
***

Kent Farm - May 6, 2078 

"Thanks, squirt," Kon said, cutting into the plate of chocolate-chip pancakes that Nala had made for him. It was roughly a stack the size of his head and Kon would probably be ordering another batch. He was eating for two now after all.

She nodded and sat down across from him. Alura was at the stove already preparing a second batch for the next Kryptonian down the stairs. The two girls had been up a while cooking and Kon wondered if it was something Alura was doing to spend time with Nala without crowding her or forcing her to feel like she had to talk. Kon could understand that though it wasn't in his nature. Grandma had been like that with his dad and, to this day, his father still cooked to alleviate nervous energy.

"How are you doing?" she asked, taking a sip of orange juice.

"Been better. My powers aren't cooperating right now."

Nala frowned. "You seem fine here."

"Last night I managed to freeze my lamp like liquid nitrogen. I think your cousin is coming into her powers already."

"Wow."

"Yup. Cass sometimes has that problem if she's really worked up. I hope it's just embarrassing and not inconvenient." He said biting into his pancake. "So, how are you? Do you want to talk about it?"

His niece sighed and set her glass down. Kon noticed the table shaking just a little under him. Loaded question. "I cried a lot. I'm not going to lie. I know that I'm not suddenly green and scaly now or that I'm not still me. I mean I am me but I'm not and that made no sense."

"Made enough sense for me to follow. We're really very sorry. None of us wanted to lie to you or to keep lying to Max, for that matter."

"It is safest," Nala conceded, her tone flat.

"I'm even sorrier we did have to tell you. It's hard. No one would blame you if you needed a few weeks or months or the rest of your life to figure out how to deal."

She nodded and the table shook a little less. "Tell me it gets easier."

"It does. It's hard but it gets easier. Your mom and dad will take good care of you; all of us will. It's a hell of a lot easier than it was for my dad. He didn't even have a name for it when he first was shown his ship. He had to play detective to even get the basics. When I was born, there wasn't even a Justice League yet and people didn't realize aliens existed."

"Wow."

"Yeah, now there are aliens even coming to live here and get U.S. citizenship in public. It's different than it was."

"I'm not stupid enough to tell anyone."

"Maybe one day you can. You don't know what a century or five will bring."

She nodded and finished her juice. "Uncle Kon?"

"Hmm?" he asked, wiping a bit of melted chocolate from his chin. 

"I'm not stupid."

"Never said you were."

"I...no one said it out loud yet, but I know mom's Supergirl and that everyone else here is in the League basically."

"Deductive skills adequate," he said, winking.

"Do I have to to?"

"No. I promise we do it cause we want to, all of us. No one made us, and we don't all have to do it. If you never want to get a costume, you never have to. Dad never made me."

"I'm not saying I won't cause I might but I'm twelve."

"Yup."

"So, okay, I think I'll just focus on fighting the evil of cleaning the mixing bowl for today."

"Good plan, oh and tell your mom I could maybe use some more?"

Nala smiled and took his plate. "Anything for the little cousin."

Kon grinned as he watched her start ladling out more batter. Maybe this would be a good day after all. He felt that way for exactly one hundred and eighty-three seconds. Then Cass, her brother and her stepmom came through the door.

"Oh!" Kon said, starting to stand. Cass shot him one of those mother hen looks she'd be cultivating. The kind his mom had honed for using on his dad back when his father'd been pregnant with Mo. It was the "I know you're not that pregnant but rest up anyway" look. "Or not. I was sort of expecting you all at noon."

Because the extra two hours would make him more popular with her family.

Mindy offered a tight smile. "Cass came over for breakfast and we were already up. Jason came all the way from Cincinnati and...well..."

From over by the stove his cousin nodded and started piling more food on a platter. "Might as well get into family time feet first. Good thought. You know, Nala and I made enough for an army. You two can have that and we'll start seeing who's up and wants breakfast."

"You mean we're going to leave the room cause this is super awkward?" Nala asked.

Alura blanched. "Not exactly. We're just taking a break, outside, in the loft."

Kon rolled his eyes as the girls left. They weren't exactly CIA stealthy, were they? "Well that's good. Being prompt is good."

Jason hadn't said anything yet but just glared at him as if he were the one with heat vision. Kon hadn't seen either of them since Carter's service. Jason was, himself, now in his early sixties. The small paunch he'd had back then cultivated into an impressive girth and his hair mainly gone save for a circle of salt and pepper hair around the sides of his head. Mindy was about eighty and had apparently stopped dyeing her hair since he'd seen her last. Instead of long, shoulder length brown hair, she had a light silver bob. The cane she gripped tightly was also a new addition.

"Connor."

"Yeah, how you doing?" he asked, holding his hand out for Jason to shake and taking no offense when the other man didn't. Kon wouldn't shake the hand of any man who even tried doing to Mo what he had done to Cass. "Or not."

Cass sighed. "I know this is really awkward. Look, I'll get Mindy settled in the living room cause it has a comfy recliner and she can get to the small talk with Faw...Mrs. Kent and Mr. Kent. Jason, I know this is not where we thought we'd be, I do, but try and be nice to Kon. He is the baby's father."

"Unfortunately."

"And being nasty to each other now is just a bad habit to have set up cause it won't be fair to her or a healthy atmosphere," Cass amended and they could all see their breath in the room, such was the temperature drop. "Good, I thought people would see it my way. Mindy? Let me get you some rest."

"I'm not an invalid. I had my hip replaced two years ago and have had plenty of time to heal."

"And I'd be a bitch for making you stand," Cass added, letting her stepmother lean on her as she led her to the living room.

Jason waited until the women were out of earshot before he spoke. "How the Hell did you manage to take advantage of my sister?"

"I---"

"No, I think I get to talk now. I don't know what you did. Cass swears that Kryptonians don't have mind control---"

"We don't."

"Not. Finished," he said, starting to pace. "She was happy, thank you very much. She had a new life that did not include your sorry ass. She was working not four months ago on a landmark case for her firm before the Supreme Court--you know that court---and she was doing just fine without you. Now she's pregnant, on leave, and you're sitting here all smug eating about three hundred pancakes!"

Kon eyed the stack and did the math. "35 left."

"What the fuck?"

"Savant," he said, shrugging. "That's not exactly how it happened. I didn't trick anybody."

"Okay did you get her drunk?"

"No! And that's not fair to your sister!"

"Did you blackmail her emotionally? I'm working really hard here to think about how you got her to touch you and then, worse, how you got her to trash her whole career for you."

"Hey! She didn't trash anything. Her partner at the firm is doing the case now and she'll be back on it by about August 1st."

"Maternity leave, moron. They can't fire her, but she walked out on her biggest case and she'll be gone for what? Ten months total? Her life's gonna pass her by. But I guess that's okay cause you'll just pay for everything with all that money you randomly have and I can't even believe you."

"Cass isn't taking maternity leave. She's off right now for the pregnancy in case it's complicated but I don't think you understand."

"That's what I'm saying because last time I checked she loathed you."

Kon flinched. It was probably for the best he didn't know what Cass had lamented to her brother over the last decade and change. "She doesn't hate me now, and I thought she told you."

"Told me what?"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Kon said, standing up so that Jason could get a look at him, all of him . "Cass isn't pregnant. I am."  
***

Jason was more subdued sitting in the living room with him, Cass, Mindy and his parents. The whole pregnant guy thing tended to shut people up fast. Kon sighed and clasped Cass's hand in his. He was back in the rocking chair closet to the main hall and she was seated at his feet. His dad and mom were on the sofa and her brother was standing, quietly, but still aiming his death glare at Kon.

Well, more specifically, at the small bump he was cultivating.

Mindy, who probably didn't like Kon anymore than Jason did, was at least trying to understand the situation. "Wait, okay, so superspeed, strength, invulnerability, flight, heat and xray vision, enhanced senses, freeze breath, and some telekinesis for Kon and you both get pregnant? Did I know this before?"

Cass blushed. "No, Mindy. It's complicated. What Mr. Kent and Kon can do---are doing---is a contingency plan that was genetically engineered into the men of Krypton."

"On purpose?" Jason asked, still staring. Kon would have asked him to just fucking take a picture but Cass would have slapped him, delicate condition or no.

"Well not cause it's fun," his dad defended, blushing. "Way way before I was born there was a plague on the planet and women couldn't carry to term. So they engineered it so men could. Within one generation they found a plague cure but it's a recessive trait. If the women we're with aren't able to carry, we do. Trust me, my cousin Kara completely forgot to tell me that one. I was beyond surprised when I realized I was having Kon."

"And you had Mo," Mindy said. "We weren't really close and I didn't think much of it, but you weren't around. You were such a PTA dad even for working in Metropolis and then you were just not available for a year."

He nodded. "It's Smallville, the rocks have done a lot of damage to different women."

"Cass was having Carter. I went to the hospital when..." Mindy stopped, not willing to finish the sentence.

"I was but, uh, Kon and me sort of switch off? I don't know why or how of it. I don't think Kon and Mr. Kent know or really want to know, frankly."

"Kara made me a power point once," his dad admitted, shivering. "I got through three slides and decided it was better not to have all the details. It just does work."

"Anyway," Cass said, "When we were in college, Kon was. I mean it was our first time and we didn't know and I was careful but you know they don't make pills for Kryptonian guys and someone help me out here, anyone!"

His mother chuckled just a little. "Kon conceived but didn't get very far because an off world mission took a hard hit on him. Then you know it took Kon and Cass a very long time for Carter."

"And I couldn't. I always thought that Carter was what happens sometimes if you mix alien and metas together and it doesn't go well but I can't. I mean, I can get pregnant and did, but I can't make it to term." Cass gripped Kon more tightly and looked out the window. "I'm too cold. My power won't support it."

"But Kon can?" Mindy asked. "Sweetheart, I know you always wanted a child but adoption is an option, just look at Clark."

Cass looked up at her stepmom. "Oh I didn't...this is not Kon doing me a favor like a surrogate thing."

Only in his world was this even a sentence. 

"Then someone's really going to have to explain this to me because last time I checked, Kon's a cheating bastard and you were doing gang busters without him in your life."

"I'd rather you rephrased that," his mom said, glaring at him. "We don't use language like that in my home."

"Then, Mrs. Kent, Kon did some really horrible things to Cass and now they're co-parents. Are you kidding me?"

"I thought you came to this because you were supportive," Cass said. "No one made you fly out from Ohio."

"I am supportive of you, of whatever you need in reserve when Kon dicks you over again. I'm really not okay with any of this and now that I know it's not like you're the one stuck with a baby, I don't get why you don't just leave his sorry ass high and dry."

"Jason!" Mindy said. "That's not what your father or I would ever expect Cass to do. Obviously she has some responsibility in this. Neither of you are the type of people to cut and run."

"It'd serve him right. Seriously, how did this happen, Kon?"

Kon forced himself to make eye contact with the other man. "Someone at the Watchtower spiked the champagne. Normally, alcohol doesn't affect me but I was hungover when I went to D.C. to see Cass and the rest really isn't your business from there. We did something rash when we both consented to it, and now we're both trying to step up for the baby. I'm not saying we're getting married or engaged or sharing a house---" he had no idea how to explain that as far as his "grandmother" was concerned, he'd never been divorced. "We're just working on time sharing."

Cass pulled her hand out of his but still leaned against his legs. "Kon and I care about each other. We've always maintained as coworkers---sometimes with more stress than less---and we both care about the baby. I don't know what we're going to do. Actually, I was thinking of moving back to Kansas."

"Are you serious?" Jason asked and Kon hated that his tone was treating "living with Kon" as   
if she'd just said "living with Hitler."

Then Kon actually processed what Cass had said. "What?"

His mom was equally confused. "Excuse me?"

"Well, let's be honest. Kon could live anywhere he wanted and has the money and yadda yadda but he's not going to. He's going to spend his time here on the farm for a while and then he's going to live in Metropolis cause even though he has superspeed, it's going to be too scary for him as a first time parent of a special needs Kryptonian to live far from you two or from the Caves."

Kon frowned. He really hadn't been planning ahead at all. He assumed he was going back to San Francisco at some point in his life, but Cass did have a point. The idea of being alone in California with a baby was terrifying. Yes he could be in his parents' home in five seconds even if he lived in Uzbekistan but he wanted to be closer than that in case the baby got powers or the flu or measles or swallowed marbles or...oh god he was going to suck at this.

"Kon, buddy?" his dad asked, waving his hand in front of his face. "You spaced out a little."

"I...wow. I never thought of that."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you like," his mom said. "Lord knows we have plenty of space."

Kon was still half-imagining his daughter managing to shove a Lego up her nose a three a.m. "Thanks...I...huh."

"The point is," Cass said. "We're not really sure what we're doing. We're playing a lot of it by ear. No, Jason, we're not back together exactly, but we're trying to explore our options."

His mother and father frowned at each other but didn't say anything.

"Options?"

"I don't think it's fair to have a split up home for the baby," Cass said. "And I don't hate Kon either."

"He's an asshole!"

"I'm sitting right here! I did a shitty thing. I spent fifteen years lonely as all get out and paying for it, and now I'm the one knocked up here and with all the joy that comes with and, guess what, powers are hereditary and she has Cass's already." Kon emphasized his point by crunching the now frozen-solid arm of the rocker. It'd been freezing slowly, like liquid nitrogen bored on it drip by drip, as the argument intensified. 

"Buddy, are you okay?"

" A stor , do you need a minute?"

He forced himself to smile at parents. They did try. 

"No, I'm fine. It started last night. Cass was gonna help me work on controlling it." He turned and looked back at Jason. "I made a horrible mistake. I was wrong. I apologized, but it doesn't change that the baby is coming and it's ours and were trying to be a team for her. It also doesn't change that I'm really about to pay for a lot of Karma I've accrued over the years in the next four months."

Jason was still wide eyed at what was left of the arm. "I'll say."

"Kon," Mindy said, her voice steady. "Jason's being harsh but you can see why we're both worried for Cass. Of course, we didn't realize how invested you are in the baby."

"You mean that I couldn't be free to run to Alaska any time I felt like it to get back to being childless."

"In short, yes. I'd be lying if you running away when the baby became inconvenient hadn't occurred to both of us but I had no idea you were the...primary parent isn't the right word."

"The one nursing," Jason clarified. "I...maybe some of the things I'm thinking about you aren't true."

Kon narrowed his eyes and cupped his stomach. "Probably not."

"But you didn't have Cass calling you up in tears at 1 a.m. after nightmares for years. So I'm not sold on you yet and I don't think I have to be. But I am supporting my sister and my niece. I'll stop cursing and insulting you in your parents' home---"

"Gee thanks," Kon said.

"But you have to show me and Mindy a lot more before I believe you're good for her." Jason shook his head. "I need a smoke."

Kon shook his head. "No, I think I'll get the air first." Just to be flippant, he glared at the other man's chest. "Besides, ask anyone else after I leave, you really should quit smoking."  
***

"You know," his dad said, leaning against the cave wall and sliding down to sit next to him. "I think you handled that rather well."

"You're not supposed to speed."

"You've been here an hour, I drove the truck. Also, pot meet kettle."

Kon shrugged and just then noticed that, though it was May, he could see his breath in the caves. "Oh, I'm really gonna have to get my emotions to ran rampant less."

"You'll adjust. I exploded half the house with you," his dad replied, patting his shoulder. "Your mother and I are very proud of you."

"Really cause I'm super confused on how that could be. "I got pregnant out of wedlock."

"Been there."

"And today all I managed was to get yelled at for being an ass, which I was."

"And you handled it without rising to the bait or screaming or being rude. You stood up for yourself. You did something wrong to Cass, you've acknowledged it and are working to change it. That's all anyone asked of you."

"I think Jason wants me flayed if one could do that to a Kryptonian."

"Well you have Mo and Alura, and I have your Aunt Kara. Everyone's protective of their 'sisters.' I doubt he'll ever like you again. If Kevin Winter showed up tomorrow and begged your forgiveness, I doubt you'd be his best friend." Kon stilled. "Son?"

"He can't, actually. Died last fall. I read it in the DP."

"Oh, I see, but you understand my point. He's upset and defending Cass's honor but he's going over the line on you and probably only came to get his words in face to face, no matter his other concerns for Cass and the baby. He was the lesser person in this."

"Though still technically a person," Kon snarked.

"No good thoughts come from this track, buddy."

"Sorry, long day and it's not even noon yet."

"Cass was in your room last night. I can hear, you know. Not like you, but I can. And your mother and I were both flabbergasted this morning. Looks like you were too."

"Cass...I don't think she knows what she wants. I mean thirty-six hours ago we were in the loft having an argument, not a big one but it was one, about what I did after Carter's funeral. Last night she wants to sleep in the same bed. She didn't. I made her get the power rangers sleeping bag and take the floor. But she offered. And, yeah, any cohabitation is news to me."

His dad considered that. "You can say no to things too, Kon."

"Huh? I did. I made a pillow fort and everything last night."

"I know you love Cass. We all care about her a lot."

"Uh-huh." 

"But you've got it reversed. You're the one in the delicate condition and, yes, you're not me and it's not as dangerous but it's still putting stress on your body and making your abilities go wonky and playing with your hormones. It's never easy. I wouldn't make any permanent decisions until after she's here."

"I wasn't going to." He frowned, thinking more carefully over his father's words. "You married mom with me. That's a huge life decision."

"True, but I also was dying. I would have done it regardless but I didn't realize I had a built in post birth time to get my hormones in check."

"That's gloomy."

"It was a very scary time, Kon. The only other time I've been that scared was when you were with the Luthors. I'm not going to lie about that. The sentiment remains, don't...I know you want Cass to love you. I know you want to patch everything up and you can't in five minutes, and you definitely can't if you lose your sense of what's good for you."

Kon frowned, trying to figure out what his dad was going for. "I...Cass isn't Lana."

"I didn't say she was. Of course she's not, but you're under a lot of stress and everything's going to just keep changing faster, and it won't really get completely normal until the baby's about a year old."

"I'm gonna stop being pregnant!"

"The nursing plays a little with your head too, not as much but some. I just, you've apologized; you're doing your best. You set the tone for what you need, alright?"

"I did."

"I know and that's why I'm proud of you. You recognized a set up where you and Cass easily could have slept together---metaphorically speaking---again. Just keep letting her your positions and don't change them to please people, even me."

"I think I can do that. I am not exactly going house shopping tomorrow. I'll be on the farm for a while to come. I might just sit out nursing here too. I don't even know. I don't think I'm ready to be alone with a baby."

"If it makes you feel better, we're pretty indestructible."

"A little," he said, standing with some effort and wobbling arms, and then offering his dad a hand.

"You're not supposed to lift things."

"Humor me," Kon said. "You'll out invalid me anyway soon."

His dad sighed and clasped his wrist as Kon pulled him up. "I'm okay. The transfusions and the tube and things...they're not so bad."

"Liar."

"Okay, they suck, but I just have to get to when her powers come in. Between Mo's abilities and the Fortress's care, the back half really was easier."

Kon reached around and hugged his father with an arm. "You know, I was thinking."

"Did it hurt?"

He glared as they eased through the cave's exit. "No, I'm serious. You put up with a lot of shit for me and for Mo and now the little one. I...thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Yup, I'm going to get you something awesome next Sunday."

"What's that?"

Kon grinned and started sprinting, human speed for the truck. "It's Mother's Day!"  
Back to index  
Chapter 27 by Tobywolf13

December 13, 2062 --- Santa Monica, California 

"You know," Cass remarked, looking up from the large book of baby names she'd not stopped obsessing over since they'd bought it the week before. "This is an awful lot of pressure."

Kon sighed and kissed the top of her head and, then thinking on it, kissed her stomach as well, smirking and as she giggled. "I don't think so. I mean it's a name. It's not the end of the world. We can avoid obviously horrible ones like 'Marge' for girls or 'Melvin' for a boy. Any name that rhymes unfortunately well with a curse word. Nothing trendy or a noun that's not actually a name for humans." He blushed, thinking of the way he'd worded it. "Or, you know, mostly humans. I maintain that nothing like 'tangerine' or 'rock' should be included on the list."

"Tangerine, huh?"

He shrugged. "Apple or banana either. A name should be a name, damn it. It doesn't have to go all old fashioned either. Grandma had some kind of scary suggestions for Mo."

"See how easy this is not?" she countered, flipping to the next page. The little cartoon storks that were decorating the borders stared up at him. It did give the odd sense of having an audience to proceedings. "There are so many ways to go wrong."

"I...mom came up with mine, dad said, like it was nothing. It just fit."

"Cause your Aunt Kara had the other name ready to go."

"Mo's naming was a fight to the death as you described it."

"Except then Alura had a great idea and everyone liked it. It feels like someone always comes up with something that works."

"As long as no one's named after a Ninja Turtle," she joked, squinting at the type in front of her. 

"Aunt Kara still swears that Raf-El was a well thought of member of the Council."

"Not interested," Cass replied, setting the book down. "I...have you even thought about names from that side?"

"Yeah, actually," Kon said, his tone hardening a bit. "I talked to Aunt Kara last weekend and she gave me a list of favorites for girls and boys both, and no 'Raf-El' didn't make it on the list."

"Just saying, never gonna happen. I'm sure it's noble on a planet without reptiles skilled in the art of ninjutsu."

"They're amphibians," Kon said. "The point is, there is a list: Lara, Kiara, Maya, and Nira for girls and there's Mon-El, Caz-El, Kor-El and Kar-El for the boys. I didn't think any of those were horrendous."

"Your people weren't big on syllables, were they?"

"I suppose not. I...if we had a boy, Kar-El simplifies things a bit. We could just name him 'Carl.'"

"That's such a mailman name," Cass said and he had no idea what her logic was on that.

"You have something better?"

"I...my grandmother on my dad's side, her maiden name was Carter. It's a family thing. I sort of like that better even if there's something silly about a name for an alien sounding so mundane. I mean 'Kal-El' or 'Kon-El' have such an exotic ring to it."

"Thanks?"

"I'm serious. Still, if he is a boy, I'd think Carter Kent would work well."

"Alliterative, what a shock."

"Granted, your mom wasn't a alliterationy until she married your dad, but between you, me, your dad, and your Aunt Kara, we love our hard 'C' sounds. I just...I like it. I can't think of anything off the top of my head he'd get mocked for."

"And if he's not a he?"

"Lara, I like best. If you don't mind, that is. The Fortress sucks in some ways---"

"You won't get an argument from me, Grandpa's horrible."

"But," she countered, snuggling against his side. "Lara, the AI, is trying and I feel better having her with us for this. She did so much when Mo was born and she's been considerate at checkups. I dunno, if we have a Moira Martha and an Alura in the family, it feels fair to give something to Lara as well."

"It's a nice name," he admitted. "I...there's something to be said for names that are still basically mainstream. I can see if we chose something like 'Kiara' that other people would butcher it forever."

"Good. I we can keep the others down and I still have a few baby names from the book I like but I'd say 'Carter' and 'Lara' are front runners."

"No idea for middle names?" Kon asked.

"That'll come, I'm sure," she replied. "Your dad came up with yours on the fly."

Kon shook his head. "I think he'd been planning on it for a long time, maybe even right after he kicked Lana off the farm. Ugh, I can't even imagine having part of Lex's name be mine."

Cass nodded and burrowed in closer. "Once upon a time, you'd have lapped that up."

"I'm not fifteen anymore, and, while I can believe Lana demanded it, cause she was an incredible bitch, it's still in concept an unbelievably shitty thing to do."

"Yeah," Cass said carefully.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No," he said, sitting up and looking her in the eyes. "You got quiet which is Cass for being pensive which means you have something you want to say but you think I'll freak out over it."

"Not much really. Far be it from me to think that Lana was anything but a bitch to the end."

"But?"

"I'm just sorry, I guess. Fawkes is awesome."

"Obviously mom is."

"I just wish for your sake she'd been your bio mom, that you'd never had to deal with all that Lana baggage."

"Well at least I have a Chloe and didn't just get stuck with Lana. I really can't imagine her trying to parent a fucking hamster let alone a kid---alien, human, whatever---whoever is in charge of that sort of thing was smart to make her infertile."

Cass laughed and kissed him. "Except that one time cause then we got you."  
***

November 16, 2066 --- Berkeley, California 

Kon was sitting out on the deck, overlooking the expanse of woods behind Jax and Alura's home. Naming always turned into a full contact sport in this family. There hadn't been as many people to be opinionated about it when he was being named. It had really just been his dad, aunt, grandmother, mom, and Lana. As far as his aunt had told him, it had made things no less awkward or combative. Of course, as heated as things got among them, there was never a suggestions as loathsome as what Lana had tried insisting on.

No playing each other with sex either.

God, what a piece of fucking work his bio-mom had been.

Kon sighed and forced his hearing to calm. Right now, he could hear Jimmy and Jax arguing over why Jean Grey was not going to be a usable name. His uncle, ever the Sci-Fi eccentric, was trying to bargain for middle name status. Kon knew that his uncle was going to lose and was wasting his time, so sitting out away from the melee seemed like the best and safest plan for his ears.

"Hey," a soft voice called and he looked back to see Alura shutting the sliding glass door behind her.

"You two," he said, gesturing toward her stomach, "are the stars of the show. You're supposed to be inside."

She nodded and sat down beside him. "It's pretty much concluded. You've been out here longer than you think. Jax and dad came to a compromise. Here middle name's going to be 'Marie.'"

"I don't follow?"

"You of all people should be better up on X-Men stuff."

"Why? I don't really do Sci-Fi outside of my personal life," he said, winking.

"Uncle Kal still sometimes calls your mom 'Rogue' when he's feeling snarky or when she pulls out a 'Chewbacca' on him."

Kon nodded in recognition. "Now it clicks. 'Marie's' a pretty name. Does it have something to go with?"

"I...Jax and I thought about it quite a long time. The Fortress has an archive for our family going back a thousands years, more names than even we could memorize, but I just...none of them felt like what I wanted."

"She's not getting another name?" 

His cousin shook her head and pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "No, she is. We don't know anything about Jax's family. The Fortress either truly doesn't have any records or doesn't care to share them. With Jor-El controlling half of it, it's always hard to tell. I still wanted something more...neutral might be the best word, not so loaded withElness ."

"Understandable, I think," he replied. "Still doesn't answer my question."

"It depends on the translation, you know."

"What does?"

"The Numan's wife, the Nulec's mother. It depends on whom you get the story from in the oral history. Sometimes it's 'Nyla' and sometimes 'Nala,' probably varies because anything oral always does. Everyone thought that 'Nala Marie' worked better."

"It's nice," he said. "Alura?"

"Yes?"

"Why do the caves mean so much to you? They don't do anything besides offer the portal, I mean. It's not like we can't just fly to the Arctic and be done with the whole mess. You've spent one lifetime on just them and now another with Native American studies. I don't get the point."

"Your dad did, once. It's not like he didn't write some really insightful papers through college with Grandpa Joseph."

"He did?" Kon asked. It was nothing he'd heard before.

"I have them. Joseph kept original manuscripts and when he died, they went to me with the bulk of his research. They're really amazing. If your dad had wanted to be an anthropologist, he'd have made a stellar one."

"Cool."

She nodded. "I've always been the most interested in actual Numan. The Fortress has filled in a lot about the House of Ro and what they were like, what it has of their accomplishments and such, but your dad? The set of papers he did were all about the Nulec and what happened to him."

Kon frowned and struggled to remember the story. "Nulec became the chief. He was in line for it and the Kawatchee became the most powerful tribe in Kansas, right?"

His cousin sighed and nodded. "That's the basic gist...I...it wasn't good. Without Numan to raise him, he was brought up to be a weapon of his grandfather, used to wipe out the other tribes. He was very good at it."

Kon shivered. He believed that. There wasn't a weapon on Earth still that could contain any of them, not one made by human hands. If nuclear bombs and biological weapons were useless, he couldn't imagine one of them against mere bows and arrows. "And dad wrote about this a lot?"

"Yeah, it was while he was working his way from Central to getting acceptance in the Met U School of Journalism. You'd still have been just a toddler."

Kon nodded. "He was thinking of me, you think?"

"I think he was looking for knowledge about how to raise a Kryptonian child on Earth. It couldn't have been very reassuring between the chief's 'make a weapon' plan and Dax-Ur's 'just put Blue K on it.'"

"No, I'd think not," he answered, voice hollow. "But he'd had Grandma Martha and Grandpa Jonathan. They seemed to have it down better than the rest, not that brainwashed to be a genocidal asshole or maimed were much competition."

"I know. I think he was just really scared. I never talked about the papers in depth with him. I only asked if he wanted them back for his own mementos when I received my share of Joseph's bequest. They work so hard, you know?"

"Who?"

"My mom and your dad. They worked so hard to make a life here, and not just for them, but for us too." She cupped her stomach, which was still very flat. "I don't think I understood how hard it was until I got pregnant. I keep thinking about all the things I'll have to do for her, about not just teaching her about her powers and how to use them but---"

Kon nodded and took her other hand. "How to hide them."

"Yeah. Kon, Rao forgive me."

He smiled despite himself. Alura talked like her mother, was most prone of any of them to speak in Kryptonian. "Of course."

"I...I shouldn't talk to you about these things, but I don't have anyone else our age who I think understands. Mo doesn't get it. Jax does, I think, but I don't want to worry him right now. He's still recovering."

Kon swallowed but said nothing on that. It hadn't been very long since Jax's vengeance and his sentence, hand't been long for the recovering part to kick in. "I know so you want to talk to me?"

"Yeah, I do. I know it's selfish and horrible and Carter...I know he wasn't here long."

Or at all, Kon would have countered but he could tell his cousin was being charitable as she was wont to do.

"But you figure Cass and I got to the freaked out nightmares and the late night stress and the 'Dear God how can we teach a toddler not to use telekinesis?'"

She nodded. "Something like that."

"'Dear God, how do we make sure you don't become a supervillain?'"

She blushed. "I didn't say that."

"You're thinking it, and not because of Jax or because of what he did. You're thinking about it because we all think about it, at the back of our minds, and we never really talk about it with each other. It would be incredibly easy to just do whatever the fuck we wanted. We'd have each other to contend with, but, really, there aren't rules other than what we bind ourselves to, like an honor system."

"Yeah," she said, stroking her stomach with her left hand. "Or what we're taught. I think Uncle Kal and mom worked really hard on that score. But some of us have had our calls."

"Like when dad went all crime spree in Metropolis or I cuddled up with Mommy Dearest?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's not just Jax, and I'm selfishly glad Uncle Kal can appreciate that, even if robbery and murder aren't equivalent."

"Yeah."

"I just...how do you teach someone with basically infinite power not to abuse it. What if this time what mom and Uncle Kal taught us...what if I fuck this up?"

Kon blinked. Alura didn't swear. "You won't. I mean, you will make mistakes. We all do. Clearly dad and Aunt Kara aren't perfect at this, don't white wash it. You're not gonna raise like Darth Vaderrette, Lur."

"I know, I just...why is everything with us so complicated."

"We're from Krypton, kind of," he replied. "It fucks up everything. Still, you're the best of us. I...Jax is by far the smartest, but you're the kindest, the most calming. You're going to be an awesome mom."

His cousin beamed and kissed his cheek. "You really think so?"

"Swear it."

She smiled even more broadly and squeezed his hand. "You would have made a good father, Kon."

"Yeah, but apparently that wasn't my destiny, Lur, not by a long shot."  
**

May 6, 2078 ---- Smallville, Kansas 

"Kon?" 

He looked up from his lap and nodded at Cass. "Everyone's finally situated---fed, watered, whatevered---so we can do that naming thing?"

Cass nodded and stayed lingering on the threshold of his room. "Yeah, your sister and my family were the last to get around to eating lunch. I think she and Jason want to kill each other."

Kon rolled his eyes. "Mo's an acquired taste. Her heart's in the right place, I swear it is."

"I love Mo."

"But," he conceded. "I assume she was picking a fight with him over me?"

Cass shook her head. "Actually, I apologize. Jason picked at her. I...he said not very flattering things about you. I was afraid you'd overheard them. It was why I came to get you and didn't just send your dad."

"Oh, I wasn't paying attention," he admitted. "I've actually been just zoning out."

"Deep in thought?"

Kon sighed and pulled the piece of paper out from his lap, holding the yellowed sheet so she could see it. "Yeah, actually."

Cass paled. "I know Mo said you had it still. Hell, I know you admitted to it. It's just different to see it."

He nodded and turned the paper over in his hands. "It looks good for almost sixteen years old."

"Yeah, it does. Where did you have it?"

"My wallet," he said, not making eye contact. "Folded up and slipped into one of the spaces for photos. It was silly and sentimental."

"Maybe a little, maybe not," she replied, shrugging. "I...we're about to go down and discuss names with our family and we haven't even talked about it with each other. Not for a decade and a half, I mean. Do you still even like 'Lara' as candidate?"

He nodded. "Probably more since she sweet-talked Jor-El and got you into training."

"Cool. I still want that for her, but I...it's right to ask you first, even moreso than a regular father."

Kon blushed despite himself. "You mean the type of father who's not actively carrying the baby?"

"Yeah that one. A...um, traditional dad," she amended.

"Well I'm very traditional for an El," Kon riposted. "We were gonna come to an agreement on the name, one way or the other. We just already had one we liked from before. We're partners, after all."

She nodded and stayed hovering at the edge of the room. "Yes, but, I meant more, that, at the end of the day, you have more say over things than I do. It's your daughter."

"Where is this coming from? You've been here, literally on the farm, since we found out who the mother was. We've been taking training together. You looked after me until the fucking morning sickness went away. Anyone up to wipe up vomit at 3 a.m. before the baby even gets here, she's 50-50 on this. You're 50-50. ."

"It's still not my body doing it."

"Mom and Grandma Martha---"

"No, Lara's mine, I know that. I know you're sharing her with me after the mess we made even if we're in this bizarre place. I know it's not about who carries, not in this family, or even about blood considering all the adoptions here. I have a one up in some ways. I just meant, my brother made me think."

Kon swallowed and forced himself to breathe evenly. He was sure there were many things Jason could have said to her about him, nothing good though. "He did?"

She nodded. "Then you took off this morning for some air and I doubt it has anything to do with my powers, essentially, beginning to manifest with you."

"Yeah, that's true," he said, curious and scared of where she was going with all this.

"I swear to God, Kon, I thought he'd be civil. I really did. I'd not have invited him here if I hadn't. I...clearly if he hates you this much, we'll just ask Cassie to be the godparent. She'd be perfect at it."

"Agreed and we didn't know. I figured it'd be about as bad as it was, but I was hoping for better, yeah."

"Exactly, but the thing he said about you just leaving me if you got bored of all of it. It sort of was like this paradigm shift."

"Okay, following."

"You're committed," she said, gesturing at his stomach.

He chuckled, some of his tension eased. "Considering we're about halfway there. Yes, yes I'm definitely committed."

"My point is, when Jason thought I was the pregnant one---only in our lives, by the way---when he assumed that, he thought you'd run."

"He had his reasons. I have a checkered past at best, Cass."

"This isn't about that, I swear."

"It'd be okay if it were."

"It's not," she huffed, tapping her foot a little. "It's about the fact that, technically, if I were a complete bitch, I could walk off and leave this all behind. I could just shove Lara on you and go 'toodles, call me at college graduation.'"

"You could do that," Kon said, still unsure of where this was going. "But you're not that type of person. Frankly, neither am I and your brother knows Jack Shit about me after another fifteen years have passed. I don't think you're going to leave me high and dry in this situation, really I don't."

"Good, cause I'm not. I...I don't even know how this makes sense."

"Shoot."

She nodded and shoved her hands in her jeans pockets. "Lara's yours. I mean, I get just cause I'm not carrying doesn't make me a nobody in this. Your dad never treated Fawkes that way with either you or Mo, and, against logic and safety, he didn't start out treating Lana that way over you."

"Nope."

"Still, I just want you to know that I understand or I'm trying to understand how much you're giving in this. It's your body that it's taking a toll on, hopefully just an annoyance, but still your powers acting up. It's your career that got sidelined---"

"You're on leave."

"I wouldn't be, frankly, if I were certain this would work out one hundred percent. If I were sure it wouldn't even have a chance of being like Carter, then I'd be in court Monday morning. I chose to stay here with both of you. You had to cancel your show because of exposure. You didn't have a say in it."

"That's true. I never could have gotten the work done in time as little sleep as I've been getting and I couldn't be out like this. It's not likely people would guess more than 'let himself go,' but we're special and discretion is always best. We have to hide, always, no matter what full metas do."

She nodded. "And after everything with Lex both times, you'd be a fool not to. I...you pay the costs because you have to. I want you to know I understand and appreciate that."

"And you pay them because you want to for her, if not completely for me, and I appreciate that more than I can say. Cass," he said, easing himself up. "I would never ever think that you're going to cut and run on me or that you won't do your part with Lara. I wouldn't use having carried her against you in parental decisions. Fifty-fifty, right?" he asked, offering her a smile.

After a moment's hesitation, she mirrored the gesture and stepped back into the hallway, making room for him to pass. "Fifty-fifty."  
**

"You know," Nala said, in all her infinite pre-teen wisdom. "'Mara' and 'Lara' are very similar as names."

His father nodded and stroked his stomach. His father was from from showing, and, with the transfusions and illness associated with pregnancies like this, he wouldn't really be able to hold down enough weight to look different until the sixth month, if that. Still, it was a habit that his mom swore had started very early on with Kon, himself. "That's true."

His aunt shrugged and, while the circles under her eyes indicated she was anything but well-rested, her tone was flippant and cheery enough. "Mar-ah and Lor-a would be how it sounds. They'd sound different. Totally different."

"Sure, grandma," Nala offered. "I'm just saying we're in a groove."

"Tradition," his mom answered, shrugging. "Kryptonian names---similar themes, still pretty. Lots of love for the vowel 'a.'"

"You know," Jax said, winking at Nala, "it's still not too late to have you name her after me, Clark. I think it could be a great gender neutral name."

"'Jackson,'" Mo huffed. "Is always going to obviously be a man's name. Get over it."

From where Kon sat, he had a good vantage point for watching Mindy and Jason. Neither had said much during the debate, not that, for once, there had been an aggressive one. The minute his family had seen the aged paper clutched in his hand, they'd all been more than amenable to his and Cass's thoughts on the matter. It hadn't been much more vocal over his new sister's name. While Nala had a point about the similarity problem, no one had had any thoughts on eccentric names like the long feared and often mocked "Raf-El" suggestion. Through all of it, Mindy and Jason had remained silent, watching him with uncomfortable scrutiny. The only thing they had done was nod assent when Cass had asked everyone if "Lucía" as a middle name would be satisfactory. 

In fact, as the gathering had turned into Jax whining about his name being the next sure thing as a fad and his dad half-heartedly playing into the jest while everyone else picked a side to goad, he'd noticed how intense Mindy and Jason's silence actually was, how intense their scrutiny.

Sighing, Kon stood and excused himself out to the porch beside the kitchen. He knew it meant a lot to Cass to have her family involved---ass or not in Jason's case---and he wanted, for Lara's sake, for them to be there. Still, he felt on display, moreso than he had been at Christmas long ago when he'd first told them of his origins. Maybe they were just staring because they couldn't believe that he was back in Cass's life and that they were finally having a child together. Maybe it was just staring out their anger and frustration with his antics. Hell, maybe it was because he was showing, albeit it not by much, but still showing when his dad did not. Whatever the reason, Kon couldn't deal with being studied by his would-have-been in-laws any longer.

He was blessed with five whole minutes alone, rocking in the swing and listening to Lara's heartbeat, before he had a visitor.

"Are you alright?"

Kon shrugged and remained staring at the horizon. "I'm fine, Mindy. I'm sorry if the great name ruse isn't entertaining. Jax thinks he's funnier than he actually is. Or, I guess, he thinks he's funnier than he actually his when he has Nala to show of to and to rile him up."

"Cass's dad was always like that with Jason. The fart jokes those two came up with, even when Jason...no especially when Jason was in high school. Sometimes the immaturity just feeds."

"Definitely," he said, closing his eyes and letting the May sun sweep over him, letting it feed him in ways food never could.

"What's it like?"

Kon frowned and opened one eye. "Warm, per usual. That's how the sun works, you know."

Mindy laughed. "No, I...I meant with Lara. How does it feel?"

"Well, like it always feels, I guess." Then he sat up, blinking, remembering that Mindy had never had a child of her own blood. It was the trade off she'd made for marrying a man nearly twice her age. "Oh, that was sort of rude. I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright. I was rude to ask and, well, to stare. I know that I was. I'm really sorry. It's just that once you told us...it's impossible not to see it. I assumed you'd just gained weight, weird for a superhero, I suppose, but logical."

"Human normal," he said quietly. "Logic never applied to my father, and it has never applied to me either. I do suppose that I'm something you don't see every day. Dad won't show for a long time and not much. Mom's infection doesn't fit him well. He's pretty sick."

Mindy nodded. "He looked a bit green but I didn't want to say anything."

"Good instinct. Asking can get into a lot of sensitive issues. We're just weird and I'd probably leave it at that."

"I know and I'm sorry. If I were sending you death glares over Cass and Lara, that'd be one thing, and I wasn't."

"That's appreciated?" he said, unsure of the response that was appropriate here.

She sighed and blew a bit of bang out of her face. "I was staring because it was such a bizarre thought, what you are, what you can do. I'm sorry. When you were with Cass and I knew, well we didn't see each other much between Christmas and the funeral, just for Easter."

"Yeah."

"And you...that's to say maybe you weren't..."

"I wasn't doing anything actively alien ."

She nodded. "Forgive me. I've been terribly rude to view you like a sideshow all afternoon. 'Not being able to help myself' is hardly an excuse. I'm beyond grown; I'm closer to 'on my way out.'"

"That's not a good way to describe yourself," he said honestly. "You might be mature, so to speak, but since there's only two of us. It's not like you've had a lot of time to see a pregnant male Kryptonian. I...it is what it is."

She shook her head. "You're calmer than I remember. I mean, even with Cass and when she was carrying, you were always so tense."

"I'm tense about many things," he corrected. "Being a freakshow, I'm accustomed to. I've had my 'brother,' for lack of a better term to describe Jax, offer to do all my prenatal visits. Declined, thank you very much. I've had my best friend stare at me like he could catch it a la the chicken pox, and Mo's made her share of Weeble jokes already."

"Weeble?"

"Inflatable kids' toy. You know 'Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.'" He said, stopping to take a breath. "Besides, that's just over the pregnancy. I...there are always looks. No one knows who I am day-to-day, but when I'm actually working my, uh, night job, I get all sorts of reactions. Sometimes, as sad as it is, the person you rescue...they'll just gape at you and their heart will hammer so hard and you know that they're grateful and they usually say all the right words, but you also know, deep down, that your the one standing there with a car door in his hand cause your faster than the Jaws of Life and that that is freaking the person just rescued out. 

Hell, the new kids of the League, when they join, they look at my family like we're not quite real. Fame's part of it, in it's weird, we didn't ask for it way, but a lot of it is that we're so much more powerful than any mutant or meta can hope to be. Even they take pause. So, you're staring at me because it's partly the pregnancy novelty and partly the fact that there really hasn't been a time since the Christmas we told you about Carter for you to deal with it," Kon finished.

"Deal with what? I think Jason and I are doing our best here. We want to tolerate you again for Lara and for Cass's sake, but we're far from hugs and cocoa after what happened."

"Again, understandable, but I meant, well, the alien thing. This is your first time to really get a look at me or at any of my family really, doing something extraterrestrial, mundane as this one is compared to heat vision or flight." He laughed and noted it was slightly higher pitched than normal. Forced. "You're only human."

"I---"

"Mindy, it's okay. I know it's not like you're going to sell tickets or light a torch. It'd be a little much to expect you not to react and, truly, it matters that you came out here to apologize for making me feel uncomfortable. I'm sure you'll adjust and do better once you get more used to us."

She nodded. "You know that I didn't know about Cass or her father for a very long time, far longer than you."

He nodded. "Yeah, I always knew about them both and to this day, I don't know how Cass convinced her dad I was cool to be on the 'need to know' list, but she did. Winter time has never been the same without him. He made the sculptures Edwards Scissorhands made look like a five year old did them."

"Yeah, they were beautiful. I...I wish they'd felt they could tell me. If Cass hadn't had control issues with her final growth spurt junior year, I suspect neither of them ever would have. That hurts, but here I get a chance I can roll with things like your secrets and I become a complete gawker."

"I...did it take you a while to adjust to what Cass and her dad could do?"

Mindy nodded. "It was different, not scary, mind, but different. I...the man I fell in love with had this whole side of himself that I'd never seen before and he'd kept it from me for eight years. That was more to adjust to than the abilities, you know? That he could lie that well, out of necessity or not with Belle Reve looming. I wondered if he'd lied about everything, even loving me for a while. And, yeah, I think the first Christmas that he showed me all his best tricks, I stayed pretty bug eyed the whole season."

He took a deep breath and pushed the swing back a little with his legs. "You got through it, adapted, and really did get he was still the same person, Cass too. That says a lot. My mom wasn't like that."

"You mean Lana Luthor, yes?"

Kon nodded, at first too choked up to answer. "She had so many problems, top of them being certifiable and evil."

"Connor---"

"It's true. I meant, though, that she couldn't adjust. Better for me overall because my real mom's awesome and I don't think anyone else, short of Grandma Martha, was meant to mother Kryptonians the way Chloe Sullivan was. However, she couldn't adjust, maybe she didn't want to. I'll never know. She really hated us for being like we were, which makes so little sense to me because when she and dad..." he trailed off blushing and worked to regroup his thoughts. "She knew what he was when they tried living together. I was the by-product of them trying to make a life together. I don't understand how she could sleep with a Kryptonian but still be the biggest Xenophobe, I've ever met, then or now. I don't know how she could take my father to bed and still hate and fear the thought of having an alien child."

"She was wrong. I'm adjusting, I admit, but I meant what I told you. You're a good man , Kon. Everything that happened with Carter notwithstanding. For the most part, you're a good person. You wouldn't have been a superhero for so long if you weren't."

"Thank you," he said quietly. "I...it's hard. I know you didn't mean it, but it hurt a little. I know I'm different. I've worked my whole life and, believe me, it's taken almost seventy years to get this secure about myself, what I am and what I'll never be." He shrugged. "Screw it. I'll just be predictable and blame the hormones this afternoon. I'm too sensitive lately."

"No, I think you had a lot on your mind and me staring at you like a leper didn't help and was downright rude. I'm sorry."

"Accepted, no worries," he replied. "I just...being like this does make me think about Lana. I've tried very hard not to think about her since I met her estate lawyer, since every part of her business was out of my life. She creeps in sometimes, but she hasn't like this in a very, very long one. I really wanted her to love me. I...to the day she died." And, no, Connor would never think of how that had happened for surely, of all the things he could do, he was not capable of killing someone an ocean away while he was fucking sleeping. He had powers but they weren't limitless like that. They couldn't be. Telekinesis didn't work like that.

It didn't.

Really.

 

"Connor, really, you don't have to---"

"I need to, I think," he replied, wrapping his arms around his stomach. "I wanted her to love me even after I realized what a psychotic bitch she was. I wanted her to just once not look at me all ashamed and afraid. I hate that I wanted that, I do. Mom's fucking awesome and Lana sucked, and I still just wanted her to not hate me. I mean, I might have even taken lack of utter revulsion. I just...how can you be like that to your own kid?"

"I don't know. I couldn't be that way with Cass, despite all she can do and even if we're not related. She's mine. When you have a child, you love them, no matter what they can or can't do or where they come from."

"Usually," Kon replied, squeezing himself. "Maybe I'm just a special case. 'Kon the Unloveable.'"

"Now you're maudlin."

"Four months to go," he quipped. "I...it's funny what skips your mind, but we've been slammed with other more pressing topics to cover."

"Huh?"

"I...it's best that you know this now before Lara comes. She'll be special."

Mindy smiled. "How could she not be?"

He shook his head. "You misunderstand me. Kryptonian infants are born obviously different from humans. Not like tails or anything. We don't have scales or stalk eyes."

"Alright," she said, hesitating.

"It's our eyes. They're incandescently green, like a cat's at night. Aunt Kara says it was how you could tell the lower and upper classes apart. The noble class---that's us, surprise---it faded after a year, the eyes dull or change color altogether. In the solider and labor classes it didn't. Not that it matters. We're all that's left anyway. I just wanted you to know that Lara will be unique when she's born, from the start. Grampy Gabe always called it 'Irish eyes.'"

Mindy nodded. "And it fades?"

"Yeah, Mo and I were about a year before it happened. Actually Mo was a few weeks after her first birthdays; no surprise, she was late. I just...I'm sorry?"

"For what?"

"Because your first granddaughter is half-me and that makes her part Kryptonian, which makes her come with all the weird bells and whistles. Eyes would be the start."

"Cass has abilities as well. It's not that any child of hers was going to be average. It's really alright. I insulted you today for something unrelated to things you can or should have to control. Don't confuse that with me being disgusted by you or your heritage. When Lara comes, I'll love her like I love Jason or Cass. Like I said, she'll just be my most colorful grandchild."

"Good. I...good, just so you know and have time to get used to the idea. Sometimes it scares people. I mean, it doesn't mean anything. We don't even get heat vision until well into puberty. It just can be scary."

"Lana was scared of it," Mindy supplied.

He nodded and stroked his bump, stroked Lara. "She was scared of me ," he corrected. "I...just as long as you and Jason and her cousins...don't be afraid of her. Family shouldn't be scared of you, should it?"

Mindy smiled sadly. Walking over, she squeezed his shoulder. "No, Connor, it really shouldn't."  
Back to index  
Chapter 29 by Tobywolf13  
Chapter 28

 

July 27, 2024 - Smallville, Kansas

 

Kon sighed and ran his hands over his face one more time. It was stupid. He knew it was stupid. He was human or enough of it. He was always going to look like this. His father, his aunt, and the Fortress had all promised him he was never going to change or look less human. He wasn’t slated to grow a tail or to molt. He knew this. Rationally, he understood this. Still, it was something he sometimes felt compelled to do, to just run his hand over his face, feel his shoulders, do anything to make sure he was still just himself, whatever that meant.

 

He was pulling on his lower eyelids, looking at the tiny network of veins on the underlid and double checking his eyeballs when he heard a polite cough. Kon froze. He was used to having his own bathroom. It had been the first thing his Uncle Oliver had done when he’d redone the little farmhouse for his dad’s first baby shower. Kon couldn’t even imagine how his dad had spent his whole teenage life sharing a bathroom with his mom.

 

Talk about fates worth than death.

 

His bathroom connected directly to his bedroom and he’d gotten to the age where he cleaned it religiously himself. There were some things, to put politely, that he’d die if his mother saw them. This was actually one of them.

 

“A stor?” she asked, setting down the laundry basket that she’d brought with her on the floor. “Is something wrong? Do you feel sick?”

 

He shook his head and turned around to face her, his shoulders slumped. “Mom, I feel fine. No migraines, no weird vision issues. There’s nothing that has to do with my powers per say.”

 

She nodded and backed into his bedroom, sitting at the foot of his bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

“This is embarrassing,” he said, and yet not talking had gotten his family in a lot of trouble over Christmas. He’d learned enough to know that it was time to try being open with them, that he no longer to be who he’d been. Walking over to the bed, he sat down next to his mother and looked down at her. He’d grown a lot that past year and was slowly getting used to be (finally) being bigger than she was.

 

“Try me.”

 

“I…this is going to sound really stupid.”

 

“You were looking to see if you were still human,” she said. “I mean, human-looking. I know that when I see it.”

 

Kon’s jaw dropped and he worked it up and down a few times. “I wasn’t---“

 

“No, you were. A stor, do you think you were the first? That none of us ever did that before you?”

 

“Us? I guess dad might have, before Aunt Kara came. It did make me think he might have done it. I don’t know what you mean by ‘us.’”

 

“Your father doesn’t talk about it much. I wasn’t there for this. What I mean is that, yes, I was his friend, and we worked together at The Torch, but I wasn’t in this part of his life then. Uncle Pete was a bit, but, at first, he was just on his own. For a year after your grandparents told him, he didn’t even have Uncle Pete to turn to. It was just him and he didn’t even have a name for who he was. He told me once he spent a lot of time just double-checking in the mirror to make sure he was still himself. He, uh, well he sort of said he wanted to make sure he could still ‘pass’ for human. That was his biggest fear until he learned more about Krypton. That he’d pull a Kafka and lose what life he did have with humans.”

 

“Yeah…it’s like that sometimes. I know it’s stupid. I know dad and Aunt Kara are normal. I know we’re not like Uncle J’onn or the Lanterns. I know this, and yet I still have to check. I don’t do it all the time, but if I get a random freckle, sometimes I just imagine it meaning I’m going to get like red scaly skin or something!”

 

“That’s not a bad thing to feel,” she said, ruffling his hair. “It’s not something from Lana or some weird Xenophobia. I think it’s something we all go through at one point or another. Our lives are too surreal not to.”

 

“You did this?” he asked, gesturing vaguely toward the mirror over his sink.

 

“I had a long time to wonder too, a stor, after I was told I was a meteor mutant and before my power manifested, and I was terrified.”

 

“But the meteor mutants…they’re human!”

 

“Well, not the members of the tribe who can shift. They’re wolves too, however that works. I knew a guy in high school who could turn into sand of all things and then there was a friend of Clark’s who could literally shatter into thousands of bugs and then reform. I didn’t want to be a skinwalker or a Bug Girl or God knew what. I had images of slime sometimes or I don’t even. I was really scared.”

 

“Were you scared…I mean like Grandma Moira, like maybe one day Mo might be ‘cause we don’t know yet.”

 

His mom swallowed and took a few deep breaths. “Knowing the rocks made my mom catatonic made it so much worse. I could deal if one day I had slug powers or whatever. I could figure those out. I can’t lose my mind, Kon. I won’t. It’s what I have, even if I’m meta. It’s my weapon and my tool. It’s what I bring to the League and to my family. It’s my job even at the paper to be sharp and clear-minded. So, yeah, I was scared.”

 

He nodded and looked towards the hall. Mo’s nursery was across from his room. “Do you think she’ll?”

 

“We don’t know. I’m not like your grandmother as far as we can tell and she’s half your dad. I hope not. I wouldn’t wish what happened to my mom on anyone, especially not my own family. We just have to---“

 

“Wait and see. I hate that,” Kon replied. “But you were scared too?”

 

She nodded and reached down to squeeze his hand. “It’s always hard. It’s hard not to hate yourself for being different. You didn’t know me or your father when we were going through this ourselves. Your dad…I don’t think he’s ever going to be as comfortable with it as Kara is. I don’t think he can be. But when you came along, when he had Kara in his life telling him about where he was from and you to think about, how to raise you on his mind, then he wanted to embrace his heritage because it was yours too. I…forgive me.”

 

“Alright?”

 

“Lana did a lot to him, none of it good. She made him feel really horrible about all the changes his body was going through to carry you, she---“

 

“Made him feel less than human,” Kon finished, shivering. “I know; she still has talent for that.”

 

“And I wished you’d listened. I knew she’d disappoint. It’s what she does.”

 

“Some things you have to learn, but, yeah, I’m glad he got better at it. That he and Aunt Kara try so hard. I…a lot of it’s not so bad. I sort of like being able to curse now that I know Kryptonian and you can’t follow it.”

 

“I can tell by the tone, Connor Sullivan,” she replied, her voice taking on a mock sterness he could tell she didn’t feel. “Sweetheart, never feel badly because of who you are. I know you will still worry. I saw your drawing. I know how you feel, I do, but you’re not going to become some type of monster.”

 

He looked down at his hands, sliding his right out of his mother’s grasp. “Then why do I feel so dangerous. I have to work so hard not to get upset or things shatter. I have to think all the time at school or anywhere else about tempering my strength or I’ll hurt someone. Everyone around me is so fragile and it’s just scary.”

 

“You don’t mean just me or Aunt Lois or Uncle Jimmy. You mean Cass Carpenter.”

 

He blushed, cursing his dad for giving him that tendency. “We’re just getting back to being friends, mom. She might not even want to date. I’m not sure she wanted to even before Lex took her. I’m tied forever to something that put her in pain.”

 

“You didn’t do it to her on purpose and she was more than comfortable with you at the Fourth. I think it’d be a matter of time, frankly. You two have that vibe.”

 

“Like you and dad had?”

 

“Well maybe you won’t have to get pregnant first.”

 

“Ugh, mom, no way. Half-human!”

 

“I see but just keep that in mind, a stor. Sex is evil and makes little Kryptonians.”

 

Kon laughed. “I don’t make them.”

 

She shrugged. “You can have a normal relationship…after you’re forty…and married. Your dad and Lana, well, she was a completely normal human and Jimmy is too. It could be okay.”

 

“I could hurt her mom. Even if Cass is meta and even if she’s a little more resilient than some, if I hurt her, I’d never forgive myself. It’s hard to feel like it’d be okay.”

 

His mom sighed and kissed his cheek. “You can learn. You’re not destined to be alone.” As if on cue, his sister began to cry. “See, your dad has me and two children. Kara has Alura. You won’t be by yourself, I promise.” His mother started to stand and he set his hand on her shoulder. “I got it mom. I’ll do diapers this time.”

 

“That’s my boy.”

**

May 7, 2078 – Smallville, Kansas

 

He was up early. It wasn’t in his nature to be. It had never been something he preferred. Maybe he got it from his father, who also tended to sleep in if no one made him get up. It was ironic to Kon that someone who practically ran on sunlight was a night owl, but he really was. He tended to create his best work late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, when inspiration struck him most deeply. It had been a long, unsettled few days between where he was with Cass, naming Lara officially, and the scrutiny of his…well of Cass’s family.

 

Landing as softly as he could on the bed, Kon rolled over (no longer an easy feat at close to eighteen weeks) and tiptoed around Cass who was curled up in her sleeping bag at his feet. He thought the green power ranger theme complimented her for what it was worth. Slipping downstairs and heading to the refrigerator for juice, Kon wasn’t surprised that it was barely six a.m. He was, however, more shocked to see his mother at the kitchen table, nursing her coffee and picking haphazardly at a blueberry muffin.

 

“Mom?”

 

His mom looked up and smiled at him. “A stor, you should be resting more. Sleeping in is good for the baby. Trust me, you’ll miss it. Babies are hard. Superspeeding toddlers make sleep impossible.”

 

He gulped and poured his juice. “I’ll keep that in mind. So why are you up so early? It’s Monday but you don’t have to be at The Ledger until Tuesday this week.”

 

“Stalking my schedule?”

 

“No, photographic memory,” he replied, easing himself down onto a chair across from her. “Ugh, who knew sixteen pounds could throw a guy so off balance. I feel so ridiculous.”

 

His mother smirked. “Serves you right after last time with your father, but, yes, your dad complained up a storm with you. Not that it wasn’t…well he does love you; he just didn’t like doing it.”

 

“No offense taken. Humiliating, exhausting, and completely physically awkward. All that ‘this is miraculous’ stuff is so a lie.”

 

“You hear her heartbeat. I think that’s miraculous,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Your father is always so addicted too it, makes him soppy.”

 

Kon blushed and shrugged. “That part is pretty awesome. I am excited for her to kick.”

 

“It’s very neat to feel, but, uh, not for you. Kryptonians kick hard!”

 

“Shocker,” he said, draining is OJ. “So, mom, seriously, what’s with the ridic early morning? Dad’s?”

 

“He’s fine. He was up late with nausea. He has about six weeks to go, maybe a little more and Mara’s abilities will make him stable, but right now between my blood and her heart…”

 

“Sickness city. I know. So you’re letting him sleep in?”

 

“Yeah, I know you all are taking Nala to meet her grandparents today, a big traveler thing with all of you, and I know he wanted to rest up for it. I also know he needs to recover in a short time frame. I know Kara isn’t thrilled with leaving J’onn in her place for babysitting Jimmy and Max.”

 

“Nice to have a morpher in the inner circle,” Kon riposted. “But he’s okay?”

 

“He’s his usual,” she replied, twisting the bracelet on her wrist, the one that had, for a while, been Cass’s. “It’s hard to see him like this. I know it’s temporary. I know he’ll get better and was actually annoyingly perky the last few months feeding off Mo. I just…I do this.”

 

“Space rocks that Zod and Brainiac in motion do this to him. They got filtered through you but you didn’t ask for it and he didn’t cause it. It’s not your fault, mom.”

 

She brought her hand to her chest and sighed. “My heart, Mo’s and Mara’s, all Green K saturated. I wasn’t sure we’d do this again after Mo. Mara sort of…”

 

“…was a post-celebratory present, gotcha. It’ll be fine. Never…he likes doing this. I mean, it’s not awesome, but he likes us a lot I’ve gathered.”

 

His mom laughed, low and rich. “Yeah, he might be fond of you both, you three really. Are you, well, I guess excited isn’t the right word for today?”

 

“I like Lara, the AI part. I think it’ll be nice to tell her about my Lara, although Cass and I are thinking we’ll wait until tomorrow so that we can do it more in private. Today’s about Nala and introducing her to what Krypton would have been like. It’s not actually about me and Lara, sort of a break thing.”

 

“If ever there were a time for everything to be ALL ABOUT YOU,” his mom said, winking. “Lara is good people, so to speak, and I’m sure she’ll be as kind as possible to Nala.”

 

“Jor-El?”

 

“Maybe she can keep him shut up for a few minutes. He’s pretty much impossible.”

 

“Agreed,” he said, blurring and bringing the whole juice cartoon with him to the table.

 

“Connor Sullivan, if you even think of drinking without that glass in front of you---“

 

“It tastes better out of the carton!”

 

“Just because your dad does it,” she chided, taking the carton from him and pouring the contents into his glass. “You were not exactly raised in a barn. But, speaking of impossible relatives, how are you, a stor?”

 

“I’m impossible now?”

 

“No, I meant…well Jason is not on my favorite people list at all. Some of the things he said while arguing with Mo, I think even Alura wanted to pound him.”

 

“That’s saying a lot,” he replied, arching an eyebrow. “Was it…were they things about who we are? About just all of us being, um, ‘travelers?’”

 

“They were more about you, actually, more than a few potshots at your masculinity.”

 

“Or lack thereof for the time being,” Kon conceded. He shrugged. “I’m on deck to nurse mint green milk. I’ve gotten some points docked off my guy card.”

 

“Your dad had to keep Mo off him almost. She didn’t quite lunge, but if his hand hadn’t been on her shoulder, I wouldn’t have put it past her. Then Mindy wouldn’t stop looking at you over the naming. I know you, a stor. I know when you get air, it’s more than just air. She upset you.”

 

“She apologized, mom,” he said, sighing and bringing a hand to cup Lara. “I know it’s weird. It’s sort of why I didn’t tell them over the phone, well that and them not believing me. I didn’t want them to know something so weird as they were coming over.”

 

“Sweetheart---“

 

He shrugged again and ignored that the table shook a little. “Mindy was very sincere and we hashed it out. She’s still mad on Cass’s behalf over everything that happened and I get that. If it were Mo or Alura…I’d probably be breaking the guy in question’s legs even fifteen years after the fact.”

 

“No you wouldn’t.”

 

“I’d fantasize about it,” he admitted. “I don’t expect them to be able to trust or to like me for a long time.”

 

“Jason’s an ass.”

 

“Maybe, not exactly inviting him to be the godparent this time around,” Kon admitted. “It just…it brought up a lot of things. It doesn’t hurt me, not like with dad. Lord knows I asked for it being a complete asshole when it was with Mo.”

 

“But?”

 

He snorted and stroked his stomach. “I just feel weird, kind of like I said, off balance and not myself. It’s weird considering how much I can do----the heat vision, or the TK, or the flight---but doing this just makes me feel so much more alien than I usually do. Maybe it’s cause it’s an eight month hour-by-hour reminder?”

 

She nodded and reached out to stroke his hand. “Maybe, sweetie. Your dad’s not wrong. You’re doing well and we’re both very proud of you, even if it’s unconventional and out of wedlock. It’s not like your dad can throw stones on it.”

 

“I know. I just…it feels so weird and now that whole glitching thing. I’m not sick but it’s really bizarre to just randomly freeze things with my hands. I have to concentrate with the breath and I don’t do it often. I just get nervous lately and, well, you know,” he said, gesturing at the thin sheen of frost on his side of the table. “At least my OJ didn’t turn into ice when I tried to drink it. Cass has the worst time trying to eat under stress, that Midas touch thing.”

 

His mom sighed and stroked the back of his hand. “Is she going to teach you how to get a handle on it?”

 

“Yeah, she’s gonna be the Yoda, which, you know, weird, because I’m the extraterrestrial here.”

 

“Maybe she can have the backwards syntax,” his mom riposted. “A stor, if I were anyone else, I probably wouldn’t bring this up.”

 

“But you’re Chloe Sullivan so you ask questions. Shoot.”

 

“Mindy mentioned to me that you were…that she was sorry she brought up any Lana issues.”

 

Even he could feel the air around him grow cold and noticed that he could now see his mom’s breath. Whoa. Cass was going to have to work fast to teach him how to get this under control. “Wow, that’s…are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine. Take a breath. I will still never understand how she can hold such sway over people. I know that it’s not about me, I do. I know that you can’t help it. I just don’t understand what she had that left such a mark on Clark and on you.”

 

“I…I just want to be good enough, mom. Some days, I feel like I’ll never be. I don’t want to be like her, ever.”

 

“And you’re not.”

 

“But some days, I just…I love Lara. I love Carter, even now. How can your own bio-mom not love you?” Tears welled up in his mother’s eyes and he blurred to her side. “Mom, no, God, I’m not trying to make you feel badly, I swear.”

 

She shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Kon, they aren’t for me. The things she did to you…it was wrong. We love you, everyone in this house, now that the Carpenters went home.”

 

“Of course,” he said, winking.

 

“I love you.”

 

“Te eu iubesc, mom, believe me I do. Sometimes I just feel, and this is so stupid, I just feel like there’s a hole.”

 

She nodded and stroked his bangs, pushing them back from his forehead. “I felt that way for a long time with Grandma Moira. I told myself when she left when I was five, and again after she’d been back just a while when I was eight…I told myself I wouldn’t care because she didn’t want me so I wouldn’t want her back.”

 

“It doesn’t work that way, does it?”

 

“Sometimes you can’t help it, a stor, but we’re here and you’re still you. You just have a passenger for a bit longer.”

 

He smiled and brought her hand to his stomach. “Yeah, one who can’t even kick yet.”

**

They left Cass and his mom at the house. It wasn’t to be mean. This was something for the six of them and Nala, something to introduce her to as easily as they could. Besides, the Fortress really wasn’t kind to his mother or to Cass. Correction. Jor-El was a jerk. They didn’t need to give him more of an excuse to be snotty. He already was snotty about the Zor-El half of the House of El and the less said about the House of Ur in front of him, the better.

 

Actually, if Jax could just program the Fortress to be all Lara, then that would be awesome.

 

They blurred all to a stop at the caves and Nala looked up at Alura, eyes wide. “So we took a field trip to the old caves that you love so much in Granville because?”

 

His father looked at Alura and his cousin nodded. Kneeling down for Nala’s eye level, his dad said, “There’s a lot of things that go with being us, more than just the powers.”

 

“I think I got that,” she said quietly.

 

“I…the caves had been lost for a long time. I literally fell right into them racing dirt bikes with my friend Pete, but they were left here for us,” he said, standing back up and taking Nala’s left hand. Kara took her granddaughter’s right. Kon and Mo both let Alura and Jax walk behind her as they took up the rear. When they got to the familiar arrangement of glyphs in the far corner of the caves, his father dropped Nala’s hand and started to press the sequence that would open the wall and lead to the portal.

 

His niece’s eyes were huge as she watched the writing light up and shift with his father’s touch. “You can’t…it’s a wall!”

 

“Things can be very deceiving,” his aunt reminded Nala. And wasn’t that the truth? Nala didn’t look more than fifteen years younger than her own grandmother for starters and no one looking at them would necessarily jump to the conclusion that they were the League’s front line.

 

“I know but whoa!” she exclaimed, watching as the wall slid aside. Rushing forward, she placed her hand on the altar table, running her fingers over the slot where the key went. “I…what is this even for?”

 

Jax looked to his dad and, after a beat too long, his father handed the other man the key. Jax’s posture went slightly more rigid but it didn’t show on his face. Smiling, he showed the disc to his daughter. “It’s a portal.”

 

Nala started to laugh but stopped herself. “I guess saying those don’t exist would be kind of pointless. I…where does it go?”

 

“To the closest place to home we have left,” his Aunt Kara replied.

 

Jax dropped the disc into the slot and, out of habit, Kon closed his eyes to shield them from the bright light. The sense of motion, of being displaced was familiar, something he’d felt many times over his life, especially since training had started. However, it wasn’t exactly a pregnancy-friendly way to travel. It made Kon feel a bit nauseated and he shifted, grabbing and holding to Mo’s shoulder for support. Sighing, his sister burrowed up under his shoulder and held him up as well as she could.

 

“Sick?”

 

The light stopped flashing (although Nala’s amazed shouts had not), and he blinked, taking in the Fortress. Swallowing, he let his sister lead them to the table in the Fortress’s center. Kon sat down on it and noticed his father do the same to his left.

 

Mo frowned. “You too, kangaroo?”

 

His dad nodded. “You try it pregnant, Mo Ru-Cek, it’s rough.”

 

“I wish I had some crackers to offer you.”

 

“No worries,” Kon chimed. “We just need a minute to get our stomachs back in order.”

 

“I…”

 

“We’re fine, sweetie,” dad said.

 

“I’ll just stand here looking imposing and being your bodyguard.”

 

“Right,” Kon said, watching as Nala walked around the main floor of the Fortress, her hand reaching out to touch the crystalline spires that rose high above her and supported the structure. He’d never had that wonder for it. It had been a dangerous thing, something his father had only told them about when no other choices were available. It was safe now, and was teaching him and Cass a lot about his heritage but before it had hurt his family badly.

 

“I don’t understand?” she said, turning to look up at his Aunt Kara and her parents. “I thought you said Krypton was gone.”

 

Alura nodded and eyed Mo. His sister understood and moved over to the console. Kara and her progeny weren’t granted access to the Fortress. Anything they needed from it he, Mo, or dad (Mara now too) would have to provide. “This is…well it calls itself The Fortress of Solitude, but it’s not exactly a weapon or anything.”

 

Hedging since his father swore it could technically be used to block out the sun, though Kon really didn’t want to know the specifics of that.

 

“We have a fortress?” Nala asked, eyes wide. “All this time and we had a giant Fortress from a portal and to an alien planet and I am never getting used to this!”

 

Jax laughed and watched as Mo made the final calibrations. “No, we’re in the Arctic. This is mostly like a computerized archive. It’s a library and a store of a lot of Kryptonian history and science, sometimes art.”

 

Kon frowned. They’d not gotten to the art yet; he didn’t even know it was an offering. He’d have to look into that.

 

“Computer?” Nala asked. “It’s like a castle. I don’t even see a screen.”

 

We don’t need one, his grandmother said in that way that reverberated down to his bones and deep inside of his skull. He laughed as he watched his niece turn around, looking for the voice’s source. It must have amused Lara as well because she laughed and he felt that too, that amusement, that essence that felt so pure ‘grandma,’ as if Grandma Martha had been amplified and bottled somehow.

 

“I…what is that?” Nala asked, frowning at her parents.

 

“That’s my Aunt Lara,” his Aunt Kara replied. “It’s a computer program technically but it has her memories and her personality. Nala, meet your great-great Aunt Lara.”

 

Mo grinned and touched a crystal that glowed bright pink. “And you’ve seen nothing yet.”

 

Appearing in front of all of them, not too far from his father’s right shoulder, was his grandmother. She reminded him of his Aunt Kara a lot, actually, and always had which was ironic because his grandmother wasn’t actually related to his aunt. But both were tall, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Though Lara had a long narrow nose, almost birdlike, and his Aunt Kara’s nose was almost pug like, cute but a bit flat.

 

Nala blinked, taking in the long white robes of their ancestors, the ones emblazoned with their House symbol, the same one that the world just associated mainly with Superman. “I don’t know what to say.” Reaching out, she tried to touch the hologram but gasped when her hand passed right through the image. “Wow.”

 

Lara laughed and it was muted, human. Kon missed the way it tickled in his head. “I am many things, my niece, but corporeal is not one of them. Welcome home.”

 

“I…it’s really a fortress?”

 

Lara laughed and her robes flowed around her. Kon wasn’t even sure how the physics of that worked. He bet Jax would but that was another matter. “It’s the last vestige of Krypton. It’s a haven for all my children, for when they need to touch that side of themselves.”

 

Nala paled a little and Kon leaned a bit against his father. He knew that feeling well. “I…I don’t know how much time I’ll spend here.”

 

“Spend as much or as little as you like. One day, I hope, you’ll take the training as your mother took twice and that your Uncle Kon is taking now.”

 

“Training?”

 

Lara nodded and, reaching up, mimed cupping Nala’s cheek, stopping inches short from her skin. “To learn about where you come from. Usually one waits until after college. I understand you have a human life and a human education to keep up with as well.”

 

Nala frowned at him. “Uncle Kon’s old.”

 

“Your uncle is stubborn,” Mo replied, frowning when a crystal she’d not touched turned grey. “Perfect. I swear her must have an alarm that tells him when people are enjoying themselves.”

 

“Who?” Nala asked but all of her family members were already rolling their eyes. Only Nala even flinched at the loud, offending voice ringing out in all their heads.

 

It bothers me not when a half-breed from the House of Ur takes her training. If she didn’t have at least some El in her, I’d never let her take it.

 

Nala turned in circles, waiting for the other speaker to appear. Kon really hoped Jor-El stuck to the disembodied voice routine. “Half-breed, excuse me?”

 

His dad sighed. “That’d be my ‘father,’” and Kon smirked at the air quotes. “That’s Jor-El and he’s as annoying as Lara is awesome. Ignore him, we all do.”

 

How low the Kryptonian race has fallen…save for Mo Ru-Cek and the ones yet to come. They have something more to bring to our House.

 

“Yes, extra abilities, how keen,” Kon sniped, gripping his stomach tightly. The Fortress’s bent toward eugenics frustrated him. “I suppose if you can’t play nice, we should be going for a while. Nala’s a little young for the ‘you all disappoint me’ spiel.”

 

Lara, still a holograph, frowned. “You could stay. Ignore him. It’s not how we all feel.”

 

Alura sighed and took Nala’s hand and Mo started to enter in the sequence they needed to go home. “Little steps, Aunt Lara. Nala’s learning everything step by step. It’s too early to deal with Jor-El being annoying.”

 

“Mom?” Nala asked, hesitating as Alura started pulling her to the console. “I don’t understand.”

 

“Your great-great uncle barges in more than he should,” his Aunt Kara snarked. “Lara, we understand and she’ll come back, I promise. When she’s ready, it’ll be her choice to train.”

 

Lara smiled. “Of course…please Nala, do not wait sixty years to take the offer.”

 

Nala bit her lip but only offered a small shrug.

 

Jax put a hand on her shoulders and nodded. “Not rushing anything. Good night, Lara.”

 

And with that, they were back in the caves.

**

He didn’t set out to find her. He’d been sneaking out to the loft to steal nails from his father’s stash. Some were antiques from his Grandpa Jonathan’s toolbox. It might not make sense but nails were like a fine wine; they aged well.

 

Instead he found his niece sitting cross legged, hovering above his father’s old steamer trunk, and looking out at the sunset through the loft windows. “Uncle Kon?”

 

He shrugged and sped up the stairs, coming to sit on the sofa near her. “Shhh, don’t tell your Great Uncle Kal I was in here.”

 

She quirked her head at him. “Is this about nails?”

 

“They’re very good.”

 

“Grandma says paint chips are better. She’s home already, taking care of grandpa and Max. I sort of wish I was Max. He gets like six more years not to deal with all of this.”

 

“You’re doing really well, squirt. Like I said, you didn’t run away or hang out in a graveyard or lock yourself in your bathroom. As far as responses go, you did better than most of us.”

 

“So why do I feel like jelly inside?”

 

He nodded and touched her knee. “It does get easier, I promise.”

 

She considered him. “The Fortress is pretty and I liked Lara. I just got that feeling that no one ever liked Jor-El.”

 

“Not really and big understatement. Never listen to him. He’s a bigot and he only really likes dad.”

 

“He likes Aunt Mo and the babies.”

 

“He likes power and they have that. I guess it’s okay if mom and Cass bring something to the table. Go figure,” he groused.

 

“I…what’s a ‘House of Ur?’”

 

He sighed and cursed in Kryptonian under his breath. “A House is like a title, a family name. El is my dad and Aunt Kara’s, but there’s also other Houses. Ur’s your dad’s family. I don’t know why he didn’t mention it.” Kon sighed and scratched the side of his nose. He hated lying. “He might have just thought you’d get overwhelmed without every Kryptonian detail. Don’t take it personally, if you’re not a full El or someone with a wallop, then Jor-El doesn’t like you.”

 

“Does he like you?”

 

Kon shook his head. “I’m half-human. I’m lacking.” He snorted. “Like there are a lot of Kryptonians around for me to be full-blooded.

 

Nala thought about that and grimaced. “Ewww.”

 

“My thoughts exactly. Lara’s really awesome.”

 

“That’s why you’re naming the baby after her?”

 

He nodded. “She helped dad and Alura when it was time for doctors’ visits and deliveries. She’s helping me and making it safer for us. I…she’s earned that much.”

 

“I think it’s pretty, even if she and Mara are probably gonna rhyme,” she said, grimacing again.

 

“What?”

 

“Okay so alien thing aside. Isn’t it weird that Lara’s the niece and she’s still gonna be like two months older than Mara?”

 

Kon shrugged. “Ah, mom was really happy dad was home.”

 

“Double ewww! Uncle Kon!”

 

“Okay so it’s weird they’ll be basically like sisters, but I think compared to the how they got here and the where they’re from, the age difference isn’t going to be killer, no.”

 

Nala nodded and stared back at the sunset. “Do you think we’d have fit in there?”

 

“Krypton? No, not really, if Jor-El’s xenophobia is any hunch. I’d like to say we’d have fit better there, not that there is a there. Of the two places, Earth’s still a better shot.”

 

“But we have to hide anyway.”

 

“It’s not so bad. We have a lot of friends; there are humans who understand us. Your grandfather is one of the best things I think that ever happened to Aunt Kara. Plus we got you, Max and your mom out of the deal.”

 

“Thanks. Grandpa thinks I’m Grandma Kara sometimes.”

 

“I know.”

 

“He’s really sick, isn’t he?”

 

“Yes,” Kon said, looking away, wishing she’d drop this part of it. He didn’t want to slip and admit that it was tied to Kara and Alura’s ability to use the Kiss of Lethe. He wondered if Nala could do it. Gripping his stomach, he wondered if Lara could. He wouldn’t wish that burden on her. Nala either.

 

“Can Aunt Mo or Aunt Chloe fix him?”

 

“Nala, I don’t know, but Uncle Jimmy…humans get sick.” He sighed and stroked her hair. “It’s all hard, pri. But I love you, you know? Me and dad and Mo and everyone. We’re sort of our own little enclave.”

 

She nodded and ran to his father’s ancient desk and back. Opening up her palm, she showed him a stash of rusted nails. “I love you too. Now eat up. Little Lara needs her iron.”

Back to index  
Chapter 29 by Tobywolf13  
February 25, 2033 

Kon sighed and bit into an orange, grousing when some of the juice sprinkled onto his chin. He was going to be a sticky mess. Although, if he were honest with himself, this was not what was bugging him. What was really upsetting him was going on upstairs, and his realization he was over his head on some things. Today, Mo was not quite nine, had managed to raise her dead hamster, Buttons, from the dead. Kon had been babysitting at the time while his dad was on call for a volcanic eruption in Hawaii and his mom was helping man Watchtower. He thought he'd been able to help Mo cope with her ability, or done the best he could. He'd explained to her that mom had it too, that she'd used it to help save people who got sick like Aunt Kara when Alura was born.

It kept Mo from crying harder, but she still had been melancholy all day.

Kon practically kissed his mom on both cheeks when she walked in, home first from League duties. Now she was upstairs, trying to explain their shared gift to Mo.

That little voice who'd been snide when he was a fifteen year old ass had never quite gone away but hate mutated a bit. Instead of being afraid of Mo and her ability, he was afraidfor her. Mom had been almost twenty-one when she'd learned she could resurrect people. It had come had a fearsome price until she'd really learned to harness it; it killed her. Mo hadn't gone that far with Buttons and Kon figured dad's mix to the DNA soup they had made her strong enough not to have to do that, at least so far with small things. God, if she'd died and he'd been left alone with that, he'd have had a heart attack of his own and keeled over with her.

But he was scared for his sister. That was something they'd all assumed she'd develop last just as his mother had, later than everything else and when she already knew of their real origins. When she could be adult enough to really understand it. It wasn't like nine year olds had the clearest concept of death anyway. It was such an awesome gift, overwhelming and terrifying, for a nine year old to suffer with. Besides, even if it didn't kill Mo, it still hurt her. She'd passed out with Buttons and woken up trembling and complaining about being sore---a first for her of course.  
Kon finished his orange and tossed the peel into the garbage, giving his mother a hesitant smile when she came down the steps in the kitchen. 

"How's Mo doing?"

"Sleeping," his mom said, her voice a whisper. "Buttons, for the record, still won't get off his wheel. He's got a lot of mojo in him, no pun intended."

He nodded and frowned. "How is she really?"

"She cried when I came home and, well, I first took her stiffness away." That would explain her hobbling a bit of course. "Then I tried to explain our power. You did a good job to start. I think it just scares her. I understand that. I woke up in the morgue the first time I died and your father had to save me. It's scary, a stor ."

"But she'll be alright?"

His mother gave him a pained smile. "She's not hurting physically anymore, no, but I know from experience this takes a long time to adjust too. I really...I wasn't okay with it until I essentially used it to save your dad's life. Even then, it took a long time to learn to use it without dying myself. Mo seems to have a leg up in that department."

"She's so young!"

"Believe me, I know."

"You don't think she'll be able to handle it emotionally?"

"Not for a long time. It'll always be painful to use, even for her, and she won't...even if she weren't Kryptonian, she'd age like I do. That's also hard to get used to. If I didn't have your dad and Aunt Kara in my life, I'd really resent that."

Kon reached over and hugged her. "I'm going to the Grandville Mall for a bit. I'm gonna pick out the fluffiest stuffed animal I can find. I want to have it for her when she wakes up."

"I think she'd like that."  
**  
January 17, 2049 - New York, New York 

He was working on his newest commission---another landscape and he grew tired sometimes of painting Krypton, but it sold well---when Mo blurred into reality, scattering his pastels to the floor and his rough sketches and plans for his work.

"Hi, Mo," he said, drolly. "I love you too."

"I'm sorry," she said, picking up everything for him and setting it back in superspeed. "But I needed to talk to you."

"Is this a League thing? Are we supposed to be getting to the 'Tower?"

She shook her head. Mo had been reinstated four years ago, after trying her out as a teenager had been beyond a disaster. She still made incredibly stupid and self-centered decisions, quitting after one of their uncle's deaths (a Green Lantern) and trying to date her asshole college boyfriend despite Kon's warnings came to mind. Still, she'd come back to their night job with maturity and grace he never thought she could get. 

She was someone you wanted on your team with strength matching their dad's or Aunt Diana's.

She was still not yet twenty-five.

"Is this a Daily Planet thing? I know you're not above the twentieth floor yet, but it takes time. You and mom talked about that six months ago. No one expects you to have a Pulitzer overnight, little sister."

"No, I...Terry proposed," she said, holding up her left wrist one which there was a diamond tennis bracelet, not exactly gaudy, but it made Kon whistle. Clearly Terry had borrowed his ersatz father's credit card for that purchase.

"You're wearing the ring, so you said yes and we get champagne now?"

"I didn't have an answer, actually. He said 'no pressure' and then said I should wear the bracelet and think about it for a while. That we'd talk about it again in a few days."

Kon couldn't help from smiling a little at Terry's consideration of their culture. He was the type of guy that he, Jax, and dad would all approve of, no questions asked. "It's really gorgeous, Mo. I can tell from here it must have set, um, Uncle Bruce back a ton."

She sighed and fingered the bracelet. "I know that, believe me I do, but---"

"You're going to say no, aren't you?"

She nodded but kept touching the bracelet. "I can't, Kon. I love him, I do, but I just can't."

"Can I ask why? He's one of the best people we know and he loves all of you. That's like light years ahead of the last time someone asked you to marry them."

"Like I said, I really love him, but I can't marry him. I...he's mortal, Kon. I don't mind dating him but I don't want to get into what Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy have. Christ, people think he's cradle robbing and she's technically older ."

"Does it matter what people think? And isn't fifty or sixty years of happiness or whatever you do get...isn't that work it in the end?"

"I don't want to watch him die."

"You would either way, Mo Ru-Cek ," he said, solemnly. "This way you just get to be closer for a while. I know being immortal scares you---"

"I want to be like everyone else."

"Then at least ask the Fortress about it? Okay, it'll put your mind at ease."

"What if it tells me I am like Aunt Diana? I...what would I do then."

"You're not," he said, putting every ounce of belief he had into his words.

"God, I love him, but I just want to date, no commitments. Nothing supposedly forever from his end."

"It'll crush him."

"He understood I was gonna debate it."

Kon shrugged and returned to his work. "Mo, stop being afraid of everything. It'll work out." The only answer he got was the breeze ruffling his hair.  
**

May 8, 2078 - Smallville, Kansas 

Kon was getting used to being up so damn early. He'd always been better at that than his father, who practically needed water dumped on his head to get him moving in the mornings. Still, Lara wasn't kicking yet and morning sickness was gone, but the indigestion was gonna kill him. At this point, though, with the farm still bustling with at least his sister staying over, he wasn't surprised to find random people at the kitchen table at six a.m.

This time it was Mo.

"Hey, got an early day?"

She nodded. "Definitely. Richard wants me to cover a big press conference at eight from the mayor. I figured I'd get food and go home to get showered and niced up."

"Cool," he replied walking (he didn't yet waddle despite what Mo said) to the fridge and grabbing the OJ carton. He took big gulps out of it, glad mom wasn't around for that. "Mo, hey, look. I...you weren't very polite to Terry when he was over last. Pretty much pretended he was wallpaper."

She sighed and set her spoon back in her Cheerios. "I do miss him. I just...it's been a long time Kon."

"So? Cass and I were a long time apart too and we're figuring something out. I mean it's really hard but it can be worth it."

Mo snickered a little. "All you had to do was get knocked up, which is kind of amusing."

"Yeah," he said, quietly finishing off the carton in one gulp. "I don't advise that method. Look, he's pretty busy in Gotham, I get that, but I invited him back to the farm in a few weeks when he could get a night off, like this open invitation thing. I want you to be here and actually try talking to him."

"Why?"

"Because he misses you like crazy and you've never dated someone as compatible for you. I mean, you're like 54 and that's not that old for a human, not now with better medicine and stuff. You could maybe get a whole fifty years together, more maybe."

She sighed and it was enough to ruffle his hair. "It hurts, and I do miss him, it's true. I just...I wish I knew what I was, like just Kryptonian long-lived or really immortal."

"You know, you could---"

"I'm going to, I'm almost ready for that, but I want to go with Mara when she's old enough. I don't think she can bear to hear it alone and I know I can't. If we are whatever we are, at least we have each other now."

Kon nodded, making a note to talk with his dad and admit to Mo's fears, to warn his parents both to think before having another kid. He should have talked to them about it years ago, but he'd promise and it wasn't like Mara was exactly planned (his dad had a wonky track record on that). Walking over to her, he patted her back. "Be here for just hanging out. It'll be me and Cass and you and Terry. We'd all be finding footing, you know. But that's not something some Jackie Chan couldn't fix."

"I hate action movies."

"Okay maybe one Kate Hudson piece of crap, but you know what I mean. We can do this. Dad and Aunt Kara built lives here. Alura and Jax have each other. We can have something too, Mo."

She looked up at him, eyes watery. "I hope so, Kon, I really do."  
**

"This is stupid," Kon huffed, sitting by the old swimming hole, close enough to reach out and touch the water with his hand.

"Kon, whatever's on your mind and it must be pretty heavy, but whatever is on it, you couldn't eat breakfast. You froze your waffles!"

"It's not that bad," he hedged.

"And your milk and the fork and then the table top..." Cass said, biting her lower lip. "You're gonna have to get a handle on my powers. It shouldn't be that bad. You already are really aware of your body and your mind, great at meditation stuff."

"Out of necessity."

"Well if you don't get a handle on it, you're not gonna eat more than Italian ice and our daughter needs really, thawed out food."

He smiled, despite his mood and embarrassment. It felt good to hear Cass say that. "I know, but I kind of suck at this."

"And you've only had it a few days. It's not as easy as it looks," she said, reaching into the water and freezing a small chunk of it around her hand. "Now you try with your spot."

"Cass...alright," he said, sticking it in and not feeling shocked when nothing happened. "See I suck."

"What were you thinking of?" she asked calmly.

"Gee Obi Wan, I was thinking this was never gonna work."

"When I do it," she said, not rising to the bait. "I think about winter, about the things my dad used to do and the ice sculptures he made. It sort of is sentimental."

He nodded. "Makes sense. I get upset and my TK goes nuts. When dad healed Jax, he had to think about all the times he'd been really close to him."

"Then you just...I dunno, when I think about it, I just feel like dad's still here cause we shared it."

"I think I can handle that," Kon said, this time concentrating not on the late Mr. Carpenter, but instead on Cass, on the way she could raise goosebumps on even his skin, on the way she felt when they made love, the chills that oddly made him feel loved. Closing his eyes, he let the memories wash over him and heard Cass clap. Opening his eyes and looking down, Kon smiled at the fact the whole swimming hole was covered in four inches of ice.

"Congrats," Cass said. "So what were you thinking of?"

Kon blushed, hoping she didn't notice. "Oh just Christmas time at your house is all. It always makes a guy sentimental like you said."

"Sure and you need to learn how to turn it off. It's pretty much like when the TK acts up, I think. Just calming thoughts and 'ohm.' We can practice that too but---"

"I don't want to eat popsicles forever!"

"No," she said, touching his arm, her touch gentle and he wished some days it could be more. "I mean that what's bothering you. If you let it out, it'll help keep your stress down."

"I..."

"Popsicles Kon, think about that."

Sighing he looked down at where her hand rested on his arm. I have to talk to dad and I have to do it soon. He should know that Kara and the Kiss of Lethe stuff affected Uncle Jimmy. That's why he's sick and not just old age so why can't he get a second chance from mom or Mo?"

"I see."

"And our daughter. What if she gets it? I just think about Alura and Kara not really understanding it and they did damage. What if Lara does that to a boyfriend or, you know, girlfriend whatever. I just...how can that happen? I don't want her to suffer and what's happening to Uncle Jimmy, it's not actually natural and his time."

"But you're scared to tell your dad."

"Yeah, cause he'll blame himself for not getting the connection and it'll make Aunt Kara feel like utter shit. Besides, Mara...we don't all get it but some can."

Cass reached out and stroked his stomach, as if she could protect Lara that way. "Is that all on your mind?"

"And I need to tell both mom and dad about the maybe really truly immortal thing. I just...nothing I have to deliver as news is any damn good." He shivered and groaned when he realized he could see his breath.

"Kon, breath. I'll help you, okay? We'll do it together. We'll talk to your parents tomorrow."

He nodded. "I'd like that; I can't think of doing it alone."

She stroked his stomach and smiled. "You're not alone and you won't be ever again."  
Back to index  
Chapter 30 by Tobywolf13  
April 19, 2012 - Smallville, Kansas 

"I'm never going to get this!" his dad cried.

Kon blinked up from his stuffed animals, Norman and Harry, and scurried up onto his dad's lap on the sofa. "Daddy what's wrong?"

His Aunt Maddie---and he liked her cause she helped with his powers a lot---smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "Hey kiddo, your dad's just upset because we have a final in art history and he can memorize who made what but he's having trouble explaining the theories behind it."

Kon considered that. His Aunt Maddie made the coolest things out of glass and Kon really liked to draw, even if he also wanted to be a reporter like his mom. He didn't know exactly what that was but he did get it didn't involve a lot of art. "Art's hard."

"You're telling me, buddy," his dad said and he was frowning so hard. Kon shrugged and leaned up and kissed his dad on the cheek. It was what mommy did when he felt sad and it always worked. "I love you. You can do it."

His dad smiled then and gave him a quick hug. "I just...this is it buddy. I finish these finals and I get to graduate in three years, start at the basement where mommy works."

"The Planet with Aunt Lois and Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Perry too?"

"Yup, but I won't be at the top yet. I have to work very, very hard and one day I can be a reporter like mommy and have a good byline on the front page and everything."

Aunt Maddie laughed. "He's not gonna know what a 'byline' is, Boy Scout."

"I hate Oliver."

"You like Uncle Ollie! Sometimes Aunt Lois doesn't like him much, but he's our friend."

"You say that because he promised you a car when you're bigger."

"Convertible," Kon finished. "I like him. He's nice."

His dad huffed and set him down. "Buddy, I have to study. I know it's hard but I have to finish this, okay?"

"Alright but afterwards we can play with my hippo and cow and the little alien from Toy Story ?"

His Aunt Maddie giggled again. "I bet you love your little green alien."

"Yes! He's the best."

His dad frowned but covered it up pretty fast. "Buddy, that's really good. I'll be ready to play in a little bit, but I have to do this first, and then I'll be out of college. Don't you want to see me graduate?"

"Like when I left pre-school?"

"Right, but with a nicer cap and gown."

"Yay!" Kon replied, heading to his toys. His daddy was going to get to dress up like he had and he'd get cake and everything. Over his shoulder, he heard his aunt start over again. 

"Alright, Chiaroscuro Style, and go!"  
**

June 15, 2023 

"Hey turn it up!" Cass said, pointing at the big screen in her living room. Kon was jealous of her set up and he knew his parents could spring it, especially with the raise his mom had gotten after her Pulitzer, but they were stubborn as stubborn could be and insisted on everything simple. They had a theory he'd goof off if he had five hundred channels, and he was good enough to unscramble the Playboy channel, true.

It wasn't like he'd take advantage of that.

Much.

Still, he wasn't really a huge fan of porn in general, scrambled or not. It made him feel all feverish and his eyes itch like crazy and he had no idea how that worked. After all, it was the same way he felt about Cass when she wore short shorts in the summer or her tank tops dipped too low over her chest. Eyes itching all over, and it was like...well the same amount of confusion he had over the rest of his life.

Kon sighed and pressed the remote's volume, wincing a little as it increased and wishing too that his hearing didn't suck. "What's up, Cass?"

"Look! It's a report on The Ghost of Metropolis."

Kon rolled his eyes and checked the number on the cable box. "The Syfy Channel? Cass, everyone knows that 'The Ghost' is just an Urban Legend. No one has a picture of it. Hell, they can't even agree if it's a man or a woman. It's probably nothing."

"100s of sightings for almost fifteen years? There's someone or a group out there in black saving the day. It's not possible everyone's making this up."

"Uh-huh."

"What?"

"Well," he said, shoving some popcorn in his mouth. "If you think about it, they say that about aliens, especially some of the quacks in Lowell County after both meteor showers. Still, have you actually seen cattle mutilations or little green men? Of course you haven't cause it's bullshit. 'The Ghost' is as real as alligators in the Metropolis sewers or Bigfoot."

"You," Cass snapped. "Have no sense of adventure. Your mom has always covered the news off the beaten path, provable, but odd. Hell, you can move things with your mind and I can freeze anything cause of space rocks. How is this not the same thing?"

"Because," he said, concentrating and levitating the remote off the couch cushion. "I can prove I have the TK. All we have are stories from people who were on adrenaline rushes and in dark alleys about 'The Ghost.' Not exactly reliable."

"So, you're so cynical."

"I'm going to be a reporter; it's necessary."

She shrugged. "But wouldn't it be cool if she were real?"

"Or he," Kon corrected. "Sure, it's neat, better than that supposed Bat-Guy in Gotham or the Green Arrow Bandit in Star City, at least 'The Ghost' can keep a secret."

"Yeah and what if, I dunno, one day we teamed up and did that."

"Ran around in dark colors?"

"No, doofus. What if we were superheroes?"

"The technical term for them is 'vigilantes.' There are no actual X-men, no matter how much dad teases my mom."

"But," she corrected, reaching out and raising goosebumps on his arm, setting his eyes itching like crazy and he was such a freak. "We could be pretty awesome together."

"Not denying that, Cass. It's still about as likely that 'The Ghost' or however many there are are in Metropolis as it is that aliens landed in Kansas in 1989."

"What?" his dad asked, walking in on them and Cass pulled her hand away. "You're talking about what now?"

Cass yanked her hand back fast, even though she'd done nothing actually wrong. "Mr. Kent! Hello knocking!"

His dad smirked. "I did, you have the TV on deafening levels," he defended. "Kon, I hate to break this up, but Dr. Emil is waiting on the farm for your check-up."

Kon sighed. "You know, other people's doctors don't make house calls anymore."

"And other people...well," his dad said, trying to be circumspect. "Let's just say that other people don't have Grandpa Lionel footing medical bills for concierge doctors."

"Yeah," Cass hedged. "Some of us just skip the high prices."

Kon nodded. His family was lucky that Dr. Emil could be trusted. Cass and her dad avoided doctors at all costs. They had to, of course. "Yeah, better get going. Cass, have fun with your Syfy special."

"The one involving aliens?" his dad asked, frowning.

"Nah, it's about 'The Ghost' of Metropolis," Cass said. "It's pretty cool. Kon doesn't think it's real and he compared it to little green men! I say both exist."

His dad paused and Kon could hear his heart race. "Cassie, you're a cute kid, but sometimes things aren't real. I've worked in the city for over ten years and I've never seen them. It's probably like the alligators."

"That's what Kon said!"

"Then he's a smart boy."  
**

June 25, 2024 

"Are you serious?" Kon asked and, if he weren't trying to be a better son, he'd be rolling on the floor with tears on his cheeks. His dad looked ridiculous. 

His mom frowned and tried really hard to fix her expression. Eventually, she dawned one of her fake smiles, the kind with way too many teeth showing. "I...well it's very colorful. Definitely different from the black."

His dad spun around and the bright crimson cape flared behind him. "I thought it was nice."

"Uh, you're going out in public with a cape, tights, and underwear over top of it?" Kon asked, and he was about to double over with his fit.

His dad just pouted. "Grandma Lara said it's traditional."

"Did she lie? Are we color blind in some way I wasn't aware of."

"I love red, yellow, and blue." And now his dad really was in a full out pout.

His mom patted his dad's shoulder. "Kon has a point. The underwear thing? Clark I don't think I want you being quite so...um....revealing to Metropolis."

"You should see Kara's mini-skirt. I'm pretty restrained."

Kon shook his head. "Dad you can't go out in public like that. I mean, I'll never live it down."

"Well it's different, you know? I have the glasses and the stupid trenchcoat and the beige color scheme as 'Clark' and this is---"

"Ring side?" Kon snarked. "I just...this is awfully traumatizing. Mom got Mr. Fox to design hers and it's discreet. You look like your work for Barnum and Bailey."

"Well I liked it."

"Kon and I vote no, Clark."

"Lara and Kara like it. I think that's a big yes!"

Kon rolled his eyes and blurred to get the tie breaker. Cradling his three month old sister, Kon held her up so she could see their dad. Mo blinked wide blue eyes up at their father and then giggled, reaching out to the cape and shoving it in her mouth. "Uh, her vote doesn't count, scratch that."

"Right Kon, now you're just being bitter."

"Fine but if you become some pin-up thing, Mom is going to kill you."

"Chlo?"

"Oh yeah, now give me Mo, it's time for her bottle."

Mo screamed when mom took her away from the cape and until she was in reach to suck on it again. "Clark?"

"Yeah, love of my life?"

Mom narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh I still hate the Superman look. You can't butter me up enough for that."

"Fine. What?"

"Can Martha make us another cape for Mo. She really likes it."

"Naturally," Kon said, eyeing his dad and laughing again.  
**

Kent Farm - May 9, 2078 

"Dad?" Kon asked frowning as his dad was trying to fix the tractor. It wasn't even old. Kent tractors just didn't want to work. It was some kind of conspiracy.

His father cursed under his breath and then looked up at him from where he was laying under the tractor's engine. "What's up, buddy? You feeling alright?"

"Pot, kettle," Kon said. "Are you really supposed to be doing barn chores?"

"I'm only eleven weeks and, yeah, sick but not really going to hurt the baby trying to undo some screws. I promise."

"Can't you just have Dale Hubbard down the way look at it? I just...we want Mara to get here in one piece."

"And me?"

"Meh, you've had a good run?"

His dad laughed and held out his right hand. Grasping it tightly, Kon pulled his father to his feet, trying not to notice the way his father huffed to himself. "Thanks for that vote of confidence. There's a reason Mara's already my favorite. Also sit with me on a hay bale at least. You shouldn't be doing much anyway."

"Four months, not an invalid," Kon said, following his father out to the bales by the barn's wall. "You wouldn't know it. God, mom and Cass mother hen like crazy."

"They're good at it. Your mom freaked out about everything. She was convinced you'd get allergies to like water."

"Why?"

"Your mom's a good person, but she just...she did a lot of research before you were born and kept thinking you were going to catch ebola or something exotic."

"Kryptonian."

"Your mom figured even just pneumonia from the cold in winter."

"I love winter!"

"Naturally," his dad said, covering Mara with his hand. "So what's up? I know the last few days have been pretty packed with Nala and with Cass's family. I do understand that. But now it's just really the four of us and your mom and Cass ready to really, well not to make a pun, but baby us."

"Sounds nice. I call dibs on extra nails."

"Then I call all anchovies," his dad replied, smirking. "No, seriously, buddy, I can tell when you're upset. Yesterday, you froze basically everything you touched."

"Stupid tells. Cass helped me work on that. I prefer the breath thing, not gonna lie."

"But give it four months and it won't be yours anymore."

"True, did you ever miss the TK?"

"Nope, I exploded more stuff than I care to name cause of all the stress mainly with me and Kara over, well---"

"My bio-mom the bitch, yeah got it."

"Kon---"

"But once it was just you on the farm?"

"Kara can always press my buttons, no kidding. But you're upset. What's wrong?"

"I...I know I wanted to do this with you and mom and Cass; she offered."

"But?"

"I want you to understand this first cause it's mostly about our powers, and I think you can break it better to mom than I can."

His dad's heart rate sped up, despite his even, measured breath. "Kon? Are you sicker than you told us?"

"Nah, I'm fine if a little embarrassed over the whole freezing thing, which is not exactly fatal."

"No, you'll live, wait until nursing."

"Ugh, never happening. Dad, I...have you ever thought really hard about the Kiss of Lethe?"

"No. I have no idea how it works and neither does J'onn. I'm just glad it does. Your Aunt Kara has had to clean up a lot of our mistakes, especially mine, over the years. I know free will is important and maybe I'm not so noble, but I'd rather take memories than have you and Mo and now Mara under plexiglass."

"I get that and thanks. It's just, Cass and I think it has other side effects that aren't immediate."

His dad frowned. "I don't understand."

Kon looked away and started picking at a stray bit of hay. "Cass and I traced the records of my doctors at Isis, the guy from MIT who hurt Jax, and Kevin. They all came down with dementia but not exactly Alzheimer's and died fairly young. Kevin Winter was only fifty."

"You think Kara did that?"

He nodded. "I think the Lethe thing is really dangerous. I think it can't be used anymore and, well, Alura and Aunt Kara both did it to Uncle Jimmy without realizing they were until they got their powers together. He had a lot of exposure to it."

"No, that's not...it can't be possible."

"Why not? We can do almost anything else and we don't even know how most of our abilities work except for 'red sun.' What if this ability does this? What if Mara or Lara can do it too?"

"Well you can control it."

"Yeah," Kon said, mirroring his dad's position with his hand over his stomach. "But what about if she gets a first boyfriend and doesn't understand and he's sick thirty years down the line? I can't even...talk about something beyond dangerous."

"But we don't know this. I think this would kill your Aunt Kara if she knew."

"Can Mo fix this? She almost fixed Jax and this isn't about DNA, this is only about the body and the brain. I know Uncle Jimmy said when it was his time to let him go, but if the Kiss of Lethe did this, it's not a natural progression. It's not right then."

His dad sighed and his shoulders hunched. "I'll talk to your mother and we'll have to figure out a way to broach this with your aunt. If this is true, then you're right and we should set back what her and Alura's powers set in motion. Though, Kon, I have to tell you---"

"What?"

"If Kevin got sick in the span of about thirty years and the doctors...it took your uncle over sixty. It might be this really is nature and nothing Mo can do can undo it. It's all up to your aunt."

"She'll want him back. I know she will."

His dad sighed and patted his back. "I think she would, buddy. Being long-lived is very hard, especially when you love mortals, even like missing Grandma Martha or my dad still."

"And that's my other thing. I've been wrong."

"I don't understand?" his dad asked, doing that intense brow furrowing that made him look vaguely constipated.

"I promised Mo after she didn't get engaged to Kevin never to tell you this, and I don't want to hurt her confidence but I think I have to do it. I really do."

"Kon?"

Looking up at his dad, Kon sighed, mildly aware of the breeze he kicked up. "Mo thinks she's immortal."

"Well we all live a long time."

He shook his head. "No, dad, like until the sun burns out immortal like Aunt Diana. She thinks she can't ever die or, if magic got to her, she'd just resurrect. I mean, she's not completely out there on this theory. Doomsday did try to kill and failed. She was just eighteen."

"And this is why she keeps running, isn't it? This is why she dumped Terry and never dates a human for very long?" his dad glared at him, tone severe and not unlike his typical Superman baritone. "This has affected her her whole life, for like thirty years. How could you keep something that was hurting her this badly from us?"

"I promised and sometimes you promise your sister things. You and Aunt Kara and mom and Aunt Lois worked that way. I didn't want to betray her trust."

"She's been in pain for decades. So why come out now?"

Kon shrugged and gestured to his father's flat stomach. "Mara. I should have said something. If they both can't die...it's cruel, dad. You can't leave a legion of kids who can't. I wish I'd warned you both. It might not be true, but if it is, Mo and Mara don't deserve to live like that ever."

His dad looked like Kon had tried to explain girl stuff to him, as if it had all been a foreign concept. "I don't...none of this can be real."

Kon sighed and patted his father's back in turn. "I hope I'm wrong on both counts, but you have to know what Mo is afraid of and what she and Mara could be. You and mom need that answer before you have a third kid like that."

"I didn't know. I never know these things. It's been like over seventy years since Grandpa Jonathan told me and I keep getting surprised. I'll talk to your mother right now. She's never said anything to me but I know she was pretty freaked out the first time she got died and resurrected and it wasn't related to her healing. If anyone can understand it, it'd be your mom."

"Send her to Mo?"

"Yeah, and I'll also call Kara. This is going to get complicated."

"When isn't it?" Kon said.

His dad looked at him, chin out and posture rigid. "Don't hide things like this from me again. We're a team here and I need you to look after Mo but not let her hurt herself. Alright?"

He nodded and stroked Lara. "I think I understand now more than you know."  
Back to index  
Chapter 31 by Tobywolf13  
31

Smallville, Kansas - October 10, 2035 

"Ahem," Kon said, blurring into reality in his parents' kitchen. It was family night and he'd promised to pick up the various flavors of pizza (including one free of anchovies and tabasco just for mom) and some nails for dinner. His arms were loaded down with boxes, awkwardly piled to avoid tumbling, and he set them down on the main island in the kitchen. "Mom? Dad! Dinner's here."

There was a bright red streak and Mo was sitting at the counter then, her long red hair pulled back into a braid down her back. She already was starting into her slice of extra anchovies. "Hey Kon, how's New York?"

"Same old, same old. Bought we do make the best slices."

She shrugged. "I don't know if I like folding it that much."

"Traitor!" he said. "Also, you're eleven. You'll learn to like it more."

"Maybe," she conceded, munching happily enough on her slice. "You missed mom and dad."

"Huh?"

"They got this phone call from Uncle Ollie and left about five minutes ago. They were upset you weren't here yet but let the Hubbards know to check on me in twenty minutes if you didn't show. We need to call them and save them the trouble."

He sighed and turned on CNN. If he didn't know where his parents were at that moment, then it was a good sign some reporter did, at least the spandex-clad version. Special footage of a mudslide in Honduras with Fawkes already on the ground healing the victims. Yup, mom and dad were gonna be late for pizza. Kon was about to click it off when Mo took the remote. 

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"I like the Justice League. Fawkes is my favorite."

It took everything Kon had not to grin about that. Fawkes was his favorite too. She had a much better outfit than Superman for starters, less embarrassing. "Yeah, she's really awesome."

Mo nodded and set her slice down. "I'm like her."

"Mo---"

"No, I mean it! I mean, dur, never met her but maybe she was from Smallville once, you don't know. I mean she heals and I heal."

Let it never be said that Chloe Sullivan's daughter was an idiot or gullible.

"I...yeah, but Lex Luthor's pretty resilient and we all know you're not related to him."

"No, but I just...I'm weird."

Kon shrugged and concentrated a little, pulling the jar of nails he'd bought to him across the counter kinetically. He shoved his hand in the open container and offered her some of his snack. "We're all weird, squirt. Vintage iron?"

"No, I'm good. I just...I'm really weird, Kon, like Queen of Weird!"

"Mo?"

"I just, I get it, I think. Dad has lots and lots of powers. Mom raises the dead. I get that I was gonna have tons. I just want less."

He sighed and patted her shoulder. "How is that going?"

"What?"

"The uh frankenstein mojo?"

"Oh I haven't done that since Buttons. He's feeling pretty good still, though. I think I superhcarged him. He really loves that stupid wheel."

"Cool."

"Not cool! Weird!"

"Did something happen. You were pretty cheery last week when I stopped by for us to start planning our Halloween costumes."

"Maybe."

"Is this something mom and dad don't know yet?

"Double maybe."

"Am I going to have to tell them and talk to Aunt Kara?" That was the short phrase for bring in their aunt for what she could do to alter memories.

"No! I just...nevermind," she said, standing up and putting her plate in the sink. "I was being stupid."

Kon walked over to the sink and then knelt down, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's not 'being stupid,' if something happened at it bothered you. Mo, you can tell me."

"You'll tell mom and dad."

"Only if you did something dangerous. Mo, if you...well, did you do something to expose us?"

"Not exactly."

Kon sighed and bit into the nail he had in his right hand. Mom and dad had a genius for being away when Mo had to tell him something crucial or vice-versa. "Did you tell someone you had powers?"

"There are a lot of mutants in Smallville, Connor Sullivan."

"That's not what I asked. Mo, it's not your secret to tell. It's all of ours, especially mom's with the healing."

"I didn't tell!"

"Well good then."

"I, uh, might have shown it off?"

He cursed and stood up, sitting back at the counter and waiting for his sister to follow him. "Who did you show your powers to?"

"Mickey. I...we're lab partners in science and we were on this assignment to find plants in the woods and things and we got a little farther off the main road."

"And?"

"We were gonna miss the bus back, which is bad for normal people of course. We were running, he tripped and sprained his ankle and I fixed it."

" Mo-Ru-Cek , you know that's not allowed."

"But he was hurt and we were gonna be late."

"You have a cell phone and all you have to do even then is call my name and I'll hear you because I can't help how I hear so many things all the time."

"I know that but I just, well, Mickey's cute and I was thinking we could...you know nevermind."

"The Halloween Dance is in three weeks. You were trying to impress him too. Mo, mom and dad are gonna kill you."

She sighed and looked down at the counter. "Yeah a little, but it didn't go too well. I mean he hasn't been mean mean, just sort of avoiding me. He didn't tell anyone and I don't think he's going to, but I just...Kon, I fixed him, why is he scared of me?" Her voice broke and her little shoulders hitched.

Kon stood up and sped them to the sofa. He rocked her in his lap as their parents were still on the TV, muted in the background. "Because sometimes other people don't get it, Mo. You're very special, and we all love you very much, and because someone knew how good a person you are, they gave you an amazing gift. What you and mom can do? It's amazing, so much better than anything I can do, and you know it. Only someone as good as you are should have it."

"I'm eleven. You don't know I'm that good yet."

He laughed and kissed her forehead. "I didn't think you were a saint, just that you only have what you can handle. That's what dad would say and it's something I think Grandpa Jonathan would have said too."

"I don't want to be like this Kon. I don't want to fix dead hamsters or heal people and then have them look at me weird."

"I know, but you'll like it more some day."

"You're gonna tell mom and dad, aren't you?"

"No, actually, I'm not. I'm not the Gestapo, Mo. You can tell me anything; it's better than you bottling it up for years and years."

"Alright, I...I promise I won't use my powers in front of people again, just rodents."

He laughed and kissed her forehead again. "Maybe just to start that's a good idea, little sister."  
**

Time Square, New York City ---- November 5, 2042 

Kon was screaming. The thing in front of him wasn't like anything he'd ever fought before. It was alien, moreso than his family at least, with grey skin, huge spikes and fangs. It had come to his loft while he and Mo were enjoying movie night (or he was trying to, she liked romcoms and he indulged her), and stolen him out of it. It hadn't been but a few seconds but this thing was doing a number on Kon already. If back up didn't show up soon, Kon didn't know what was going to happen to him.

Every time he hit the creature, it felt like slamming into one of the walls of Thanagarian metal in Watchtower. Every time he tried to run, it was there, outracing him. Every time he hoped things couldn't get worse, taloned hands dug into his shoulder, his sides, his chest, drawing more blood.

It was getting harder to breathe.

The thing howled again and Kon was vaguely aware of people everywhere fleeing and screaming and hoped the panic was enough for no one to notice him, to wonder why the monster had the LuthorCorp CEO in its grasp or, worse, that Kon was getting in a few hits, none good enough, of his own.

"Oh God, dad!" He was screaming then, so loud and he didn't know what else to do. He was going to die. He could feel it. He already had more broken bones than he could count. "Dad please!"

There was a flash and Kon was on the pavement, free of that beast's grasp. Looking up he expected to see his father, cape fluttering behind him, duking it out with that thing. His heart sank when he realized it was Mo. His baby sister had at least enough sense to slip into uniform. No need for people to know there was something more to the senior senator from Kansas's granddaughter than met the eye. Still, not Mo. She was barely eighteen. Christ, this alien, this thing, he hadn't even gotten a decent shot in.

Kon blinked and tried to fight back the unconsciousness. He tried to stay awake, even as paramedics were rushing him. He tried to keep breathing and watching, tried to follow the impossibly fast back and forth between Mo and that thing. He must have been sicker than he thought because he wasn't processing anything in superspeed anymore. It was all just blurs of motion and the occasional concussion from Mo hitting the beast or, Rao, vice-versa.

Someone put an oxygen mask over him and that wasn't helping as much as it should have. That would have worried Kon if he weren't so damn tired.

"Mo," he mumbled before falling asleep, ignoring that annoying beep in the background and all the people around him shouting for him to stay with them.  
**

Kon woke up in Watchtower's sick bay. Blinking, he tried to sit up and found he couldn't, that he was tangled up in a breathing tube and other apparatuses. "Ugh."

Soft, comforting arms were around him. " A stor , shh, lay down."

He blinked up at his mom and pointed to the tube rubbing against his throat. She nodded and helped undo it. He swallowed and shuddered at how dry he was. 

"Mom? What happened?"

"Doomsday."

"No shit. What was that thing?"

"It was Doomsday. I...your father fought it before when you were about nine. I thought it was dead, we all did. Your father had to die to kill it."

"Whoa."

His mom nodded and kept her voice tight. "I come in handy often. I didn't ever expect it to come back."

"I...it came for me and Mo."

"It was aiming to kill both of you. It did kill you."

He blinked. "No, I'm sitting right here. The paramedics found me and I don't remember. Somehow I got here."

"It tried to kill Mo but she won. When Doomsday was killed, alas probably still not the last time, she swooped into where you were flatlining and brought you here."

"For you?"

"She did it. You were already in the coma when we got here."

He wasn't following anything today. "How long have I been out?"

"It's almost Thanksgiving a stor , at least the Monday before. You've been out a while. Doomsday did a lot of damage."

"But I'm not dead?"

"Not anymore, no," his mom replied, taking his hand and sitting with him for a long while, just crying softly and stroking his bangs. "You scared us."

"But Mo fixed it. She's good at that. Christ, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she had a midterm in European History at Met U. She's taking it this morning but she basically hasn't left the 'Tower except for class since she brought you here."

"Not even patrols."

"Just here. If she's not, I am."

"I...but I'm fine."

His mom forced herself to smile and kissed his cheek. "You are now, yes."

Kon didn't know what to say to that.  
**

He was convalescing in his room, munching on some cherry Jell-O, and waiting for his mom to come back with more, when his sister came in. "Hey!"

She was sniffling. "Connor, you're okay?"

"Apparently, even a superhero needs a superhero. I'm feeling pretty good. My throat's sore from the tube, but I get all the Jell-O I can eat."

"That's a plus," she said hesitating at the door. 

He shook his head and held out his arms. She took the cue and soon his sister was curled up against him, crying softly. "Hey, I'm feeling fine, Mo. I'm just fine."

"You weren't."

"You saved me."

She nodded and clutched his gown. "Of course I did."

"You stopped Doomsday."

"I...for a while. Even Uncle J'onn says he always comes back. Kon?"

"Yeah?"

"He didn't even hurt."

He sat up a little and blinked at her. "What?"

"It didn't hurt. I knew I was always gonna win, Kon. It was almost too easy."

"Mo?"

She didn't elaborate but just hugged him tighter. "Don't leave me again, okay? I need my big brother."

"Of course, squirt, of course."  
**

Smallville, Kansas - May 10, 2078 

"You told on me," Mo said, eyes flashing and Kon remembered then what they said about redheads and tempers.

"I had to," he hissed across the table and how he could be seventy and still nervous and acting like a child around the kitchen table at a family meeting, he'd never know. Immortals were just horribly stunted. He'd always feel about fourteen with his parents; it was inevitable.

His dad was sitting at the head of the table, pale and drawn, but still very much in control of the proceedings. Mom sat to his left, her hand in his. Cass had miraculously had errands in Granville to run with Mindy. 

Great.

" Mo-Ru-Cek ," their dad started, doing that stupid Superman voice. "How could you never have told us? Over thirty years and you never told us."

"I...what can you do?" she countered. "What if I am immortal? You can't fix it."

"You should have said something, sweetheart," mom added. "You didn't have to just leave to you and Kon to deal with alone. We're here for a reason."

"Then you'd be worried too."

"We knew you were miserable," his dad added. "We've watched you flounder with Kevin and Terry and people in between. We just didn't know it was because you were so afraid of outliving even us."

"I...you can't fix it," Mo countered.

"And you don't know it's true. You've lived decades on an assumption and it's killing you, Mo. You just had to talk to us and we'd have found answers. Your brother is in so much trouble over this, over hiding your pain from us."

"I know, mom, I do."

"But," his mom continued. "I'm worried about you. I'm worried about how you feel. Mo, we're not going to let you or Mara be alone here until the sun burns out. We wouldn't ever let you be alone like that."

"You can't---"

His mom shook her head. "I'm Chloe Sullivan and I can make a lot of things happen that people never thought were possible. We will figure out."

Mo nodded and started crying softly. "I think I need a minute."

Dad stood up and put his hands on her shoulders. "Let's go take a short walk to the loft, princess, you and me. I think your mom wants a chance to yell at Kon too."

"I...okay," Mo said, sniffling and leaning into dad's arm as he wrapped it around her. Mo looked so small, dwarfed easily by Superman, when she was truly stronger than he in some ways. Kon never understood the way all of them were so deceiving on the outside. That there was the Kent family here and they didn't seem like anything special, his trust fund aside, but then there was also the League's frontline and the last of Krypton hidden in a small farm house in Kansas.

Today was one of those days where it felt overwhelming.

Kon sighed once Mo and dad were out of the room and stroked Lara. "Mom, I wanted her to feel she could trust me."

"Thirty-two years, Connor Sullivan. It's unforgivable. It's plagued her for so long, it's crushed her, and you've let it. I know your father and I can't wave a wand and fix everything in one go, but she didn't deserve to suffer like this and you didn't need to have that much pressure overwhelming you either. Your dad and I are supposed to protect you, not the other way around."

"I know."

"You needed to tell us. I...we probably would never have had Mara had we known."

He swallowed. "Believe me I know."

" A stor , our family doesn't work if we're not honest with each other. We need each other, even beyond what you can get from your aunts and uncles in the League. Your dad and I need to know how to help you and your sisters. I...what if this were Lara? And someone knew she was suffering and just sat on it?"

"I'd be pissed. I need to protect her."

"Then that's how your father and I feel about Mo and Mara."

I shook my head. "No, you misunderstand. I need to protect Mo too."

"Cutting her off from us doesn't protect her at all. I...it's good you love her and Mara. Hell, after how everything started when your dad first got pregnant, I'm ecstatic how much Mo means to you because, for a while, i was scared you'd always resent her."

"I do sometimes," he admitted, blushing."

"Because she has my abilities too?" his mom asked, confused.

"Not exactly. I'm just jealous she's all Sullivan-Kent, didn't have any psycho birth mom baggage. She and Mara are so lucky to have a real mom like you."

"I'm your mom."

"I know but I didn't get the awesome Sullivan DNA with that."

"It has its downsides. You know Grandma Moira was catatonic until the day she died. Mo isn't like that and I'm not. I doubt Mara would be, I truly do, but there are things that lurk everywhere, a stor . Don't kid yourself that there isn't."

"I know. I just wanted to protect her. She's my little sister but she's taken care of me so much too. I'd be dead if not for her. I mean, yeah, Mo can be overbearing and stomps around like Aunt Lois used to. She's not a fine touch---"

"Not at all," his mother answered, laughing quietly. 

"But I just promised and I don't break promises to my family."

"I kept too many of your father's secrets at first. Cass kept too many of yours. There is an art to it, to knowing when it's something you can't handle on your own as a secret keeper. This was one of those things, Connor."

"I get that. I just...I thought she'd get over it. I really thought she and Terry would work it out and she'd get over it and marry him. I didn't understand then how bad it really is. I don't think I understand it even now."

"I do. Mo and I are gonna have a long talk about it. There's something you can only know by waking up in a morgue drawer."

"Mom!" he objected, squeezing her hand. "I...don't say that about you or Mo."

"I'm not; I'm just saying it hammers home massive fears about never dying which is so much worse than dying and staying dead."

"I know. Mom I wish I'd cracked earlier about Mo. If Mara and Mo both really are immortal, if I could have stopped at least Mara from suffering, I'll never forgive myself."

"We'll figure that out with the Fortress when Mara and Mo are ready together and, if something is that dire, we'll talk to your Aunt Zatanna."

"Oh."

"Magic has its uses and Mo actually seems affected by it. I just...don't like to us again, even by omission. The five of us are a team, Mara included. The way that you and Cass have to work as a group to take care of Lara? That's what we need to take care of each other."

"Deal."

"Good."

He sighed and picked at the splinters of the ancient table. "Did dad tell you about Uncle Jimmy and the Kiss of Lethe?"

"Yes. Kara had an emergency favor to Hal to pay off a few planets over. She should be back by June."

"Wow, poor Lur if she's stuck with all that. I...should I call and offer to help Uncle Jimmy sit?"

"I would but if she says no, don't take offense at it a stor . She and Kara are working so hard not to let people see what he's become."

"Nala says he doesn't even know the difference between her and Kara anymore. I mean, Christ, Nala's twelve!"

"What if you're wrong Connor?"

"Huh?"

"What if this is just natural for your uncle. I think the theory has merit. I think Kara will want to try saving him when she gets back and we can ask her, I really do, but if even Mo can't fix it. Connor, you do have to accept that we lose our family. It's the price we pay for our gifts."

"But this isn't like Aunt Lois or Grandma Martha or Grandpa Lionel or Grampy Gabe. I...if Kara and Lur did do it, we have to at least try to make it right."

"And if he can't be saved, you need to accept that."

He clutched his stomach tighter. "I don't know if I can. I don't have that. Dad and Mo don't. But what if Lara does get it? We have fuck all idea how it works or why or why it's only so far in Alura and Aunt Kara. There's no rule that says Nala or Max won't develop it, that Mara and Lara could already be slated for it."

"You're worried about Lara having it and how it'll affect her life."

"No shit."

"Language, Connor."

"Sorry, mom," he said, pulling back one long sliver of oak. "I don't know how to comfort her if she comes home from a date having made her boyfriend or girlfriend amnesiac. I don't know anything. I helped Mo, sure. I helped Alura and am here for Nala and Max, yeah, but it's not the same. I'm could always wait for you and dad to get home to take care of Mo when I fucked explaining stuff up."

"Yes, that's true. Exposition is not your gift."

"I know! But I'll be the one trying to make her feel okay when, yeah, we are weird and we do do things that are dangerous and it's hard to deal with that reality, as a reality that can't be changed."

"Yes."

"I...mom, what if I screw it up and Lara grows up miserable?"

She shook her head and grabbed his hand, stroking it. "Connor, you'll be a good father. You've had a lot of practice on cousins and Mo. I...yes, all parents make mistakes, but I know you and Cass. There aren't many other people out there who love a child more than you two do already. It doesn't make it magic. It doesn't mean she won't be scared or confused about her powers. We don't even know yet what Cass's addition is going to bring, but---"

"But?"

"She's loved. She has two parents who love her and care about each other, however that ends up. She has two superheroes looking after her. It could be much worse."

"There could be a Lana?"

"I'm glad for Lana," his mom said and that floored him.

He blinked and frowned. "Huh? You? You're glad Lana Lang existed."

"You're here, a stor , for good or ill on her part. Without her, you wouldn't be. Without you, your father and I would have very different lives, probably only as friends, best friends but still. There'd be no Mara or Mo. Good things can come from the most unexpected of places."

"Well, maybe," he said, not pressing it. His feelings for his bio-mom hopelessly complicated and ninety-nine percent loaded with resentment and hate. "I just...I want Lara to be happy, mom. If she can kiss a boy and steal his memories, just hurt someone doing what everyone else can, how is that fair?"

"No more unfair than the sports your father couldn't play or you and Mo having to be eased into school outside of the Kawatchee reservation. I just want you to know that she has a good start and a family that will take care of her, no matter what powers she gets. You and Mo are not alone in your fears. You just have to tell us, please." She punctuated her request by squeezing his hand and he nodded.

"I promise mom and oh ouch."

She frowned. "Kon?"

"I...oh man, ouch."

His mom was up then, her hand already glowing as she brought it to his stomach. "Is she okay?"

He nodded and, despite the pain, grinned. "Mom, she's kicking ."

His mom didn't smile at first, at least not until her diagnostics confirmed it too. Then she beamed at him in a way only she or Mo could have with that wide Sullivan grin. "She really is."

"I---" And then there were just hands everywhere, his dad and Mo both feeling for Lara too. "Oh wow, my stomach just became public property."

His mom and dad exchanged a look and laughed and Kon wasn't sure he understood the joke. "You have no idea, a stor , none at all."

Back to index  
Chapter 32 by Tobywolf13  
Soho-NYC, May 8, 2028 

"Kon, I don't think you can keep pulling this off," Cass said, smirking at him. 

He sighed and kept searching through the booths at the bazaar, ignoring his girlfriend. "Look that's why I came out to Soho. I might have done better to have just blurred to a flea market or something in Wichita, but I have to find it."

"Kon, beanie babies are pretty rare now. There weren't that many that came in pink to start with. I know your aunt started the tradition and I know you want to really keep it up especially with Mo, even if she doesn't get the why yet."

"Oh, I told her."

Cass blinked. "What?"

Kon shrugged. "I told her dad's a kangaroo."

Cass, his girlfriend, the probable love of his life, smacked him. It actually kind of hurt. "You did what?"

"Well, see there was this one kid in her preschool class who's big brother decided it'd be funny to tell him where babies really came from."

"Mo's three!"

"Well apparently Graham Ravenfeather's brother is only 13 and thought a bunch of preschoolers saying 'sperm' was funny. So Mo came home about five weeks ago and she asked me about, well, that stuff."

"Ouch."

He nodded, still blushing, something completely his dad's. "She asked if it were true or if there was a stork like dad said."

"He tried the stork?"

"It's a Kansas thing probably," Kon replied. "I said it was the first thing but it was biology stuff and words she shouldn't repeat in front of grown ups."

"That's mature of you."

"Yup, and then she asked to see the pictures of her in mom's tummy."

"And instead of being a grown up or rational," she said, frowning at a collection of Popples---and how were those here and not some Beanie Babies---and getting your parents to make up a good lie, you just got pictures of Clark what? Pregnant?"

"My dad nursing more really. Kara has some funny shots. He never really looked all that pregnant with her, ooh, and a bunch of with me."

"How'd Mo take it?"

He shrugged. "I didn't go the phone home part. I'm not an idiot."

Cass shrugged at some vintage Smurfs. "You told her your family runs sort of hermaphroditic."

"Hermaphrodites can't get pregnant, actually. It's sort of ironic. Dad's, um, just genetically engineered."

"Okay, you told her that you and your dad and Jax could one day get preggers or had been."

"Um, Jax and I are humanish?"

She snickered and kissed his cheek. "Emphasis on the 'ish.' Honey, you know if your dad could do this, that your odds are pretty high. They are most definitely higher any other man on the planet besides your dad and, well, Jax."

"Meh," he said, passing a hand over a Care Bear (seriously were Furbies next?). "I say the human cancels it out."

She sighed. "Kon, we never really talked."

"About?"

"When you were so sick and cramped. I know you had to go to the Fortress and to Fawkes for a check-up. I know logically it was probably a reaction to having been body slammed."

"But?" he said, shaking his head at a collection of Snorks. "I'm seriously beginning to think this place has some anti-Beanie Baby bias.

Cass turned and took his hand in hers. "I think you were, you know. I mean, not very far along because, well, you just weren't, and definitely not something two college freshmen could handle, even if one's a billionaire."

Kon rolled his eyes, "I prefer to think about it as controlling shares of stock."

"Uh-huh. I just, you have to think that maybe?"

"I'm not made like that, Cass. I'm a guy ."

"Whose father gave birth to him and his little sister," she hissed. "It's probably all very par for the course."

"Nope, refuse to be a kangaroo," he said. "Still, Mo thought it was cool about dad."

"How has she not blabbed to him yet?"

"It's our super special secret. She wants to keep this one."

"She's three!"

He shrugged. "We have our secrets anyway."

Cass smiled. "I'm glad. Even if you're a little old to hang with a three year old."

"Mo's very smart."

"Obviously. Even if it's a little weird, I'm glad you're such a good big brother."

"I love her, and it's funny to point at dad's pictures with me and laugh. He was pretty fat. Like really, really fat."

"That's not very polite. What if you end up with twins from me and need to be pushed around in a wheelchair?"

"Har-har," he said. "Mo gets it cause she assumes it's a mutant thing. You know? She literally has werewolves, well, puppies in her preschool. She gets in Smallville stuff's a lot different. Besides, it's not like everyone on the reservation doesn't already know."

"And have tributes!"

"I am not Jesus."

Cass snorted. "That's for damn sure. I doubt Jesus would have done that thing with his---"

"Cass!" he hissed. "You know what I meant. I just...it's okay to share this part. Yeah, not the big scary Kryptonian stuff she can't possibly understand cause, let's be honest, most days, Ican barely understand it."

"Me neither."

"But yeah, if I get an excuse to point to my dad the kangaroo and laugh with her, that's a good day."

"You're turning Mo against Mr. Kent."

"Am not. She adores him. If she were ever to be a supervillain, world would be doomed. Dad would so join her team if she batted her eyelashes at him."

Cass sighed. "Kon---"

"No I mean...bad analogy. I just...he's her favorite. I don't think dad could do anything that she wouldn't love. Except Superman compared to Fawkes. Fawkes is by far her favorite superhero."

"I'm glad. She needs a role model anyway, when she really gets her powers."

Kon shook his head in amazement. "Moira Kent, saving people from certain death since still in the womb. She packs a wallop already."

"I know. I just...where were we again?"

"Why I'm so adamant it has to be a Beanie Baby?"

"Yeah, I get tradition is tradition but what about a Gummy Bear from like the Disney show?" she offered, handing a stuffed animal off to him.

"Nope, has to be a Beanie Baby. I'm thinking of just hiring someone to restart the whole like, mandatory at least two pink new ones a year."

Cass considered him. "You could do that."

"I could do a lot of things. I just am not very creative with money. I mean the type of money Uncle Ollie or I have? I could literally ask for anything and have it in an hour."

"Could not and don't say you could and then get someone with powers to deliver it so they cut down on delivery time."

Kon grinned and pulled out his cell. He had a personal assistant.

No, really.

He didn't use her often but he did have a liaison essentially for LuthorCorp business. He was still in college but since he'd technically come of age to collect his stock, he had to attend the major board meetings. It helped to have someone around who always kept him briefed. "Joan, hey, it's Kon. No, I mean Kon. No, really, Mr. Kent's my dad. No, Grandpa Lionel won't send you to Russia for calling me Kon. He said...no he doesn't actually mean that kind of thing anymore. No I'm like ninety-five percent sure on that. Anyway, yeah, Joan I have a request. I'm in Soho at that antique toy shop you found for me. Yeah, no Beanie Babies yet. But, can you have someone bring me a single plum, floating in perfume, served inside a man's hat. I'll need it in forty-five minutes. Yeah, okay. Uh-huh, no I don't care if the VP thinks we're spending too much on charity, no I don't care if it's not...yeah, we'll talk about this before the quarterly stuff on Thursday. No, I'm not gonna let that happen. Cool, see Hugo in forty."

With that he clicked the call to end.

"You wanted what?"

"Doesn't matter what I wanted, just that I asked. It'll be in here in about 39 minutes."

"You're so full of shit."

Thirty-eight minutes later, he was busy trying to decide between the flamingo and the poodle and Cass was glaring at him as she carried around his bet winning perfume hat.  
***

"You know, I think it was worth it and definitely good to go with the pink poodle. Mo loved watching your dad open it."

"Yup, definitely. I mean, I know we do Father's Day, but tradition is tradition and it's good he gets his Beanie Baby too," he said, curling next to Cass in his bed. They were in his dorm room. Technically they could spend the night at home and his mom was cool enough to let Cass spend it with him, but his dad did that channeling Grandpa Jonathan thing and it was just uncomfortable. They'd be over next weekend anyway and, probably, his dad and mom wanted some, uh, private Mother's Day time too.

"I think so too. I just, it's good. I know everything sucked with the Luthors. I get that, but you all still got through it, you're so ridiculously perfect as a family."

"Cass, you didn't even stop by your house today. I'm not going to pretend you got Mindy a gift."

"My mom died, Kon."

"Mindy's been married to your dad for a while. Hell, she found out about both of your abilities and she still stuck around. Jason adores her and so does your dad. I don't get why you don't."

"Because I'm nineteen and she's not yet thirty?"

"So she's young. Cass, she's not a gold digger."

She shifted next to him and looked up into his eyes. "She's not mom."

"She doesn't have to be. I...even dad sort of rolls with Grandpa Lionel and they have a beyond sordid history. Mindy doesn't want to be your mom. She just wants to be your stepmom. I mean you could have gone over, gotten her something."

Cass shrugged. "Meh, I sent over your plum hat. You secretary chose Chanel #5. That shit shouldn't go to waste."

"Cass...that's not---"

"Kon, not tonight," she said, turning away from him and growing silent. Kon wondered if she understood you couldn't fake sleeping next to a Kryptonian; maybe she didn't care. They all had their parental issues. But he didn't want her to lose time with Mindy the way he had with his mom, to add scars that couldn't be completely overlooked. It wasn't worth it and Mindy hadn't earned it.  
***

June 22, 2063 ---- Smallville, Kansas 

Kon ached. 

Everything ached.

Everything felt bone deep and sore. His arms were too heavy, his legs; hell even his chest felt impossibly heavy, like the act of breathing was more than he could bear. Carter had died almost three months ago and Cass had rightfully left him almost two months prior. Nothing felt better. He couldn't sleep, and, unlike when a human said that, he meant it. He hadn't slept since Cass had been rushed to the Tower. He was only half human, so he could do without it, but he didn't think it was good for him. He was beginning to see things.

Like now, when he'd found a small wrapped package for himself in the top of the wrapping closet, when all he'd wanted was some spare paper to wrap his father's gifts. Kon frowned, noticing the gift, the annoyingly pink paper and Mo's scrawl on it:

To Cass and Kon. Happy Mother's Day! Love Mo ;) 

Kon swallowed hard and tore off the paper, dropping the gift when he realized what it was---a cotton candy pink walrus of all things and he didn't even know Ty made them in that color. 

"It was going to be for this May," Mo replied, stepping into the room behind him.

Kon frowned back at her. "What?"

"You were taking too long and I thought we were gonna still catch that film festival at The Talon. I...I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You must have had it a while."

Mo nodded, and picked up Wilhelmina the Walrus. "I bought her when Cass told me she was expecting. I wrapped it and hid it here for when we had Mother's Day. I was going to give this to you as a joke and get Cass flowers. I forgot it was even here."

"I know you didn't do it on purpose, Mo Ru-Cek ."

"I never would. Kon, I am so sorry. You can't even imagine how sorry I am you saw this."

"Why? One useless stuffed animal is not nearly as bad as the rest of it."

"You're not sleeping."

"I am!"

She shook her head and tapped the side of her head. "Are you the only one who's memorized a heart beat? Kon, I know you haven't slept since March. You can't do that. We're not supposed to."

"Do you need to sleep?"

Mo blinked at him. "What?"

He quirked his head at her and felt something small and snide rear its head, something that sounded like his bio-mom. "You don't need to sleep. Why would you? You only slept two or three hours as a kid. All of mom and dad's metabolism stuff, none of their weaknesses. Do you sleep?"

"Of course I do. You know I do."

"Do you need to?"

"I---"

He circled her a bit, feeling all his anger at himself and at what they were bubble over. If he'd been a human man, then Carter would have lived. Dr. Thomkins had almost let that slip. It was his dad's fault, the freak genes again. If he were human...

"You don't need to sleep. You don't need to eat either, do you? I do. I know I have to eventually or I get sick, cause Lana was a psychotic bitch but she was still human."

"Term used loosely."

"Very loosely," he agreed. "Do you need to breathe?"

"Kon---"

"Do you need to do anything humans do, Mo? Or is it all habit because you don't know any other way to be?"

"I eat and sleep and breathe, Kon, because I need to. Mom and dad need to. Obviously, I need to."

Kon nodded and stared for a long time at the walrus. "I don't think you do. I don't need sleep. I'm fine."

"You're not fine. You're really acting weird. I...your secretary from LuthorCorp called and said you were making all sorts of mistakes. You haven't finished a painting in months. Kon, you're really sick."

"He died, Mo."

She swallowed and stroked his elbow. "You didn't."

"Might as well have. I don't have Cass or Carter anymore; I don't have anything."

"You have us," she said, squeezing him in an embrace that would have killed a human. "Me and mom and dad, Aunt Kara and Alura and Uncle Jimmy and Jax and everyone. You have the League. Kon, so many people love you."

"Not Cass, not anymore."

She pulled back and frowned at him. "What did you do?"

"What Lana would have," he said, pulling the walrus from her grasp and tossing it to the bed. "You don't really need to do anything, Mo, do you? How much of your entire life is an act because you're something the rest of us can't imagine?"

"I---"

"I'm sorry. I'll send my gifts. I can't...I need to go home."

"And not sleep?"

"I can't be here, watching dad celebrate things, watching him and mom be happy cause you and I are still here. Why should he celebrate?"

"Kon, you're scaring me," she said, reaching for him.

He blurred away from her. "He gave us this---whatever life you have, however long you might live, he made you have that. He made me different and no Carter's dead."

"Carter's not dead because he was Kryptonian."

"How do you know?"

Mo bit her lip. "I---"

"Did you talk to Allison?"

She shook her head. "I can hack just fine, thanks. I just don't prefer to. Kon, Carter...he just wasn't meant to survive okay."

"No, you said it's not because of what we are. Then there has to be a reason he's not here. Tell me."

"I...I'm not as good at science as Jax. It's not my field."

"You're not an idiot either."

She nodded. "Kon, it wasn't you. But everything since---running Cass off, never sleeping, being cruel to me now---has been. Carter died because he died. There's no fault in it. Sometimes things aren't meant to be."

"Cass and I were meant to be. She lives like I do; we match."

"Believe me, I know," Mo said, her voice thick. "But you broke her, Kon, all by yourself, your own human weaknesses. It has nothing to do with what dad gave us and never did."

He nodded and turned to the door. "I'm still...I can't watch, Mo Ru-Cek , I just can't."

"I understand that."

"No, you don't, but tell me something. Be honest or I'll know."

She frowned. "Anything, but please try and get some rest. I...maybe you should go to the Tower for a sedative. You can't just never sleep again, Kon. You're not well."

"Maybe," he said. "Now answer my question."

"And?"

"What do you do?"

"Do?"

"When you aren't sleeping, Mo, what do you do? I haven't heard you sleep in decades. What do you do?"

"I don't---"

He tapped the side of his head. "Don't lie to me. I said I'd know. What do you do the eight hours a night you tell mom and dad you sleep when you physically can't anymore?"

Mo closed her eyes. "I dream."

"You can't."

"I do though. Sometimes I read, but mostly I dream metaphorically speaking. I close my eyes and pretend I can still sleep; I lie still and let myself have the things I know I can't have."

"Like?"

"When I lie still, Kon, when I 'dream?'"

"Yes?"

She sighed and looked past him, to something she could only see. "It's dark and quiet and I can almost pretend."

"What?"

"That it stops, Kon. That it's not me and my thoughts in the night from now until the sun burns out. Sometimes, I almost fool myself. Almost."

He didn't know what to say to that.  
***

May 10, 2078 --- Smallville, Kansas 

Kon sighed and let Cass put her hand on him again. Her eyes widened when she felt Lara kick. "Wow."

He nodded. "I know. I don't know why this is more real than her making me freeze food and lamps, but this is just...she's really in there."

Cass nodded. "I...she really is. She's so strong."

"Yup. Dr. Thomkins and Grandma Lara both think that she's feeding from me. I mean, Carter never hurt you because he wasn't feeding in sunlight yet, but Little Lara's getting solar charged from me already."

"Unreal," Cass said, jumping a little as Lara kicked again. He was thinking he had a mini Mia Hamm in there.

He nodded and put his hands on top of hers. "I know. I...she's coming and she's gonna be here and be ours."

Cass nodded. "She is, isn't she?"

"I promise. She feels amazing, Cass. After she started kicking, mom and I went to the Fortress just to check. Lara was very pleased with her progress."

"Did you tell 'grandma' yet?"

He shook his head. "On Monday, after we can get back into training. I want us to share that with her. I think she'd like it."

"Weird that the AI has a personality, two even, but Lara seems so real and so nice."

"I thinks he's both."

"So did Jax ever figure out how to just get rid of Jor-El?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't we wish. He's impossible to remove. I just try and block him out."

Cass laughed. "Don't we all? I just never thought we'd be here."

"Where is here?" he asked, confused.

Sighing, she removed her hands from his. "Happy? Co-parents, a beautiful daughter between us."

"Is that all we are, Cass?"

"I don't know what we are. We're us and I love you and I want to trust you---"

"But it's hard."

"It hurt."

"I know," he replied, reaching out and stroking her hair back behind her ear. "This is nice for a while."

She nodded. "You're really cool."

He rolled his eyes. "I know what this is. This is what happened to my mom! She got all kangaroo-tunnel vision with dad. You just think that I'm going to get even fatter and waddle more is somehow an act of God."

Cass snickered. "Maybe, but it's really cool. I just...there's a baby in there."

"Has been for almost eighteen weeks now."

"I know but she's in there and she kicks and freezes things and she's mine too and---"

He smiled and kissed her, relaxing when she threaded her fingers through his hair. "I feel the same way too, Cass, believe me."

Pulling back but leaning against him, she giggled. "So, really, how fat we talking?"

"Dad gained like sixty pounds or something like that with me. I think that eighteen pounds isn't so bad."

"Hmm, sixty pounds extra of Kon?" She smirked. "I dunno, that wouldn't really be all that attractive."

He snorted. "I bet Cassie S. would still like me."

"Meh, she was trashed at the time. Only I would love a moody, waddling eight month almost space kangaroo, one probably freaking out by then about breastfeeding."

He rolled his eyes. "I am not breast feeding."

"Really?"

"Well, I mean, can't we just get formula? She's half human at least. I mean she doesn't need green milk."

"It's green?"

"Um, yeah?"

"I didn't know that!"

"You met Mo. You know she had a bottle!"

"Yeah but they were opaque and it's not like I just started staring at your dad's chest, which, yeah, under normal standards is nice enough."

"Oh so funny."

She giggled, now just being capricious. "Well, there's a reason everyone likes Superman and Superwoman's costumes best."

"They're impractical and way too tight!"

"People love them."

"It's traumatizing."

She eyed him. "So green? We talking like Kryptonite green? Or maybe army green?"

"Um, it's a mint sort of color."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"So you just never knew? I mean Alura nursed twice!"

"I was sort of on a Kent family break remember?"

"Oh right, so yeah mint green."

"Huh."

"You said that!" he said crossing his arms over the region that would eventually milk green anyway. 

"Don't be sensitive. Hmm, a milking green space kangaroo-cow who's moody from pregnancy. Yeah, no one but me and Fawkes are gonna deal with that."

"Uncle Jimmy and Jax."

"Yeah but you and your dad are so damn moody. You know?"

"I...it's not gross is it?"

She sighed and kissed his cheek, the let her hand stray back again over Lara. "Nah, just so very, very Kent."

"Tell me about it."  
***

May 13, 2078 --- Luthor Estates, Smallville, Kansas 

Kon was glaring at the Beanie Baby Mo'd given him. He was glad it wasn't a Wilhelmina the Walrus. It was, however, a bright pink gorilla in a tutu. It was also, probably, the ugliest stuffed animal he'd ever seen.

Mindy loved it.

"Kon, that's so cute. Your sister is very thoughtful," the older woman said, then she frowned. "Wait, do you get the Mother's Day presents and does Cass get the Father's Day ones? Was I not supposed to get her the tulips?"

Cass laughed and sniffed the bouquet from her stepmom. "No, it's not really like that. I'm getting him something nice next month and Kon bought be a modest tennis bracelet," she said holding up her arm.

Yes, it did cost more than some people's cars.

No he wasn't trying to buy off the mother of his child.

Much.

"That's very nice," Mindy said, adding mashed potatoes to his plate. "A little much for a first mother's day, though." Translation: you aren't fooling me.

"It was on sale?"

"From where?"

"Um Cartier's?" he yelped. "Look, maybe I was trying a little harder than I should have, Mrs. Carpenter, but I...it's not like that. It's just a thank you."

Cassie giggled. "You get 'thank you for knocking me up' gifts for people?"

"Well, only me and my dad. I mean he got mom some really nice chocolates, had Uncle J'onn run to Belgium for them."

"True but still different than a tennis bracelet."

"Well maybe if I give you about a billion more that it would make up for things," he said, frowning a little and creating a small mountain out of his potatoes. 

Cass grinned at the joke and nodded. "See and now you are finally being culturally sensitive."

"Maybe a little. I draw the line at crop circles, though," he answered, then frowned back at Mindy. "What?"

"I...sorry. I was staring again."

"Pregnant male aliens draw attention sometimes. It's okay," he said, and really it was. Mindy was curious, which was more than human of her. She was also polite to a fault. He had made an issue of it by making the Close Encounters joke himself. 

"No, I just with everything that's ever happened between all of us, I realized I never asked the obvious question."

"No, no tentacles," Cass said. "I know...it sounds fun in theory and there's the Hentai and---"

"No!" Kon squeaked. "She's kidding. Tell her you're kidding."

"Fine, no tentacles, tails, scales or stalk eyes. No pouches either."

"Hmm, that last one had maybe crossed my mind," Mindy admitted, blushing.

"No, I'm not actually a marsupial," Kon replied. "Uh, it crossed my dad's mind too until he figured out how I was supposed to get here and, no, no eggs and no chest bursting so that's fun."

"Good, no I just...I never asked where are the others?"

"You met them?" he said, confused. "I mean Jax and Alura and their daughter Nala, my dad and sister, my Aunt Kara. You met everyone but Alura's youngest Max. That's the whole Kent/Olsen cabal. Well and Mara and Lara but they're not really cooked yet."

"Kon!" Cass hissed.

"Sorry, I mean my dad and I are obviously pregnant too but you've met most of us already."

"No, I mean your other people, Kon. I get that your father and aunt decided to settle here but isn't there a, well, home planet?"

Kon sighed and set his utensils down. He was no longer hungry and he hoped he'd had enough at brunch with his parents and Mo. "There isn't one."

"What?"

"Mindy," Cass said delicately, slipping her hand over his stomach and cradling Lara. "The reason Jax's father and Kara and Clark all came here is because there was a war on Krypton and the planet was destroyed. There aren't any other survivors." It made no sense to try and explain who Zod was or that, technically, Doomsday was partially different segments of Kryptonian fauna. Kon wouldn't be hanging out with either of them for 'old times' sake' anyway.

Mindy stilled and frowned. "No that would be...it would mean that..."

"Lara's part the last of a whole race?" Kon looked back up from his lap. "Yes, that's exactly what it means."

"You never said anything with Carter. I guess I assumed that maybe sometimes your dad and aunt visited their home. I don't really know what I thought. I sort of still am having a bit of cognitive dissonance trying to see Clark Kent and Connor Kent, pregnant no less, and thinking of Superman and The Phoenix at the same time. I just assumed that there was a way for you to visit the rest of theme, sort of like how I know there are other hawkpeople---"

"Thanagarians," he supplied. "Yeah, I know. I would have explained more, really, probably even at Mother's Day but things got so bad."

They were silent for a long time; Cassie gripping more tightly to the swell of his stomach. "Yeah, if... when she's born, Lara will be one of ten in the universe."

"Are you sure?"

"My aunt looked once. She'd heard rumors of a city called Kandor from Krypton that survived, but she never found them. None of the Green Lantern Corp---and they're stretched all over---have ever seen a Kryptonian either. We're it."

"Kon, I'm so sorry for your loss."

He sighed. "I am too, Mrs. Carpenter. I am too."  
***

He laughed to himself when she came out onto the back porch to see him. "We have to stop meeting like this."

"Well Cassandra eventually passed out with pie."

"She's actually not eating for two," he said, winking. "But a meta metabolism..."

"Tell me about it. She and her dad could eat the mess hall for a platoon empty."

"Definitely," he said, smiling where Mindy hesitated with her hand over his stomach. "It's okay. You can touch. Lara started kicking three days ago. I can't go into the living room without both mom and Cass planting their hands on me. It's obsessively sweet."

Mindy nodded and touched his bump. "She's not kicking now."

"Give her a bit. She really likes one a.m."

"Oh I'm sure I'll get my chance. I'm still sorry about Jason."

"If someone hurt Mo the way I did Cass, they probably wouldn't have arms right now."

"Probably not but I still am sorry. He was rude and mean and he shouldn't have been, at least not about your masculinity or your people."

"What did he say when I napped?"

"Nothing nice, and I had a lot of words with him after we left. Still, and even if they're much older than she, she does have cousins. I mean, cousins now with kids of their own, but I think one day Jason will come around. I...it matters to me that Lara has as much family as she can. I...besides, I don't know if Cass has ever mentioned it but one of Jeremy's daughters is meta."

"Is she?"

She nodded. "She's not very old now, maybe about five? But she's like Cass and her dad."

"Wow."

"I think it'd be good for Nina and Lara to get to know each other. I...the rest of Nina's family is so ordinary and Lara's..."

"Is so alien?" Kon asked, slightly pointedly.

"No, I just...it'll be good for Nina to be with someone sometimes who understands that burden, who will probably share that gift in common. I think it'll be good for Lara to remember she has more than just your family, yes. I think it should matter a lot to her that she's part Carpenter too."

"Part human?"

"Yes."

Ouch. That hurt.

"I see."

Mindy shook her head as he shifted away from her, denying her access to Lara. Sighing, she took his hand. "Kon, I think it would have done you good to have another side of your family open to you. I know you love your parents very much, but I think it eats you up a lot about Lana Luthor."

"Understatement."

"I...I can't begin to understand what it's like to be one of maybe ten beings total in the universe. That kind of loneliness is more crushing than I can even understand."

"Yeah," he said, barely able to breathe. 

"But you're human too. There are eight billion people almost now who share some of what you have, and a lot of them love Superman and his family very much for what they've given us."

"Humans don't get us. They can't."

"Chloe was born human, wasn't she? Cass mentioned her powers didn't flare up until about the time you were conceived."

"Basically."

"And your grandparents were all human."

"Yes."

"And your Aunt Lois right? And Kara's husband is?"

"Yeah."

"Then I think there are a lot of humans who 'get' you. Kon, don't sell Lara short. She has three heritages really---the Kryptonian part, the metahuman part since, for Cassandra, that's always meant League Business, and her human side. I...you all belong here even if you're father and aunt aren't from here."

"Yeah," he said, swiping at his eyes. "I know Lara has a great mom already and a good grandma."

"Thank you."

"I know she has cousins and even secondish cousins who can love her, that she belongs to. I'm very glad about that."

"Me too."

"However," he said, sighing. "It'll never not be a burden to her. I...it hurts sometimes. I can't decide which was worse, even now: being young and weird and not understanding why or knowing and feeling the weight of a world I've not even seen on my shoulders."

"You have seen it," Mindy said, her mind quick and Cass had spent so many years selling her short based on how she'd dressed in her younger years. 

Kon sighed. "I can somehow. I've never talked about it with my Aunt Kara or even the Fortress, where I get my prenatal care...it has our medical records there among other things."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I just see it. As far as I know, the others never have, not even my sister. I don't know why things breakdown the way they do, why My Aunt Kara and cousin Alura got a power the rest of us never had or why I get glimpses of things. I've never believed in race memory cause it sounds like so much bullshit."

"You can fly," she pointed out.

"I could fly before I could walk," he said wanly. "I just...it's so hard."

Mindy squeezed his hand. "That I believe, but you're loved very much, Kon. My feelings personally are mixed but I know you made Cass very happy for a long time and that she's so happy now because of Lara. I haven't seen her happier in a very, very long time."

"Since we were planning for Carter?"

She nodded. "Then that makes Lara one of eleven really, doesn't it? That's completely different."

"He mattered."

"He does matter. Lara had a big brother and I'm sure wherever he is, he loves her very much and is looking out for her."

Kon frowned. "Huh, now that's a thought."

"What?" Mindy asked back, confused.

"Do you think that aliens have souls?"

"I know heroes do," she said, never missing a beat. "I know what your family does and who they are; I know my girl. Yes, Carter does; you do."

Kon shrugged, less sure. "Maybe."

"Definitely," she said and reminded him then of his late grandmother or even Lara the AI. It had to be a grandma thing. "Kon, you're lovable. I don't know what happened exactly with your mom. I know what you've mentioned. I know clearly you adore Chloe Sullivan. I just...you're as human as you are Kryptonian and you and Lara belong here too."

He smiled and looked back at the stars, toward the wolf's head constellation so sacred to the Kawatchee, to the eye that had been blanked out millennia before. "If my family really believed that, Mindy, we wouldn't have secret identities. We'd at least admit to the world that Superman and his family were like the Manhunter or Hawkgirl and from a different galaxy."

"I---"

"We have never said that. Dad and mom debated it for a very, very long time before Aunt Lois did the headline on him. It had to be Aunt Lois. She'd get the tone right but not be too involved. Mom never could have done it. Dad wanted to do it, you know. He wanted to talk about Krypton and that the 'S' was our House symbol and not just related to some idiotic name."

"Your Aunt Lois had a bit of purple prose in her pieces."

"No, uh, that was mom's idea for a name, actually. But mom argued against dad and Aunt Lois for a whole weekend, that they could never do it."

"Why?"

"Because she's smart. Fawkes is smart and she knew."

"That?"

"If the public knew who we really were, what we were really capable of?"

"Most of us have figured aliens by now," Mindy offered. "Or possibly gods like Wonder Woman."

He snorted. "Definitely not a god, although if Cassie Sandsmark had been Lara's mom, then Lara would be Zeus---you know, that one's---granddaughter."

"Holy hell."

"I know interesting people," he riposted. "If people knew for a fact what we were, the six of us in the League, they'd be afraid. I...it's too much power in one place. It's too unsettling in a way that Hawkgirl or Manhunter or Wonder Woman aren't. No one can ever know."

"I think you're wrong, Kon. There are more people like me or your human family out there than you think."

He sighed and clutched his stomach with both hands. "There are so many more people out there like Lana Luthor than you could imagine. My job? I'm one of the oldest. I have to keep my sisters safe. I have to keep my daughter and my little cousins safe. I...one day they'll figure it out."

"Your cousins? Max and Nala?"

"No, humans. They'll figure it out some day. Who we are, where we come from, how to find us. They came for me when I was an infant."

"Lex and Lana did that."

"Others came before for dad when he was just a teenager, for Aunt Kara when she first got here. No, Mindy, my mom was right to make dad and Aunt Kara never talk about Krypton, especially after Zod came and Superman had to stop him. They'll never understand that we're not scary."

"I do."

He shook his head and stared still at the star that wasn't, at where Krypton was but no longer shone. "No, you don't because, deep down, in a place we never even talk about it with each other we know we're scary, the six of us adults. We know . We'd never hurt anyone, but we're scared of ourselves and of if we even have limits, what would happen if they're ever really tested. I...I've seen one of us break, Mindy, and it's not good."

"You wouldn't break. You guys stop invasions and tsunamis and terrorist threats! You're amazing."

"We're more human than we probably should be, definitely not angels."

"I..."

"I hated Lana Luthor. Hated her and feared her, that part of her that's in myself, and wanted her all at the same time to have just once loved me or seen me for who I am."

"I know," Mindy said, voice quiet and small.

Kon sighed and stood up, gathering his now too small jacket as well as he could around his middle. "Maybe she did see me. Maybe she saw me and my dad and she was right all along."

"I don't believe that and you don't really either. I...nothing Cass ever made is a bad thing. Nothing about Carter was bad and nothing about Lara is."

Kon flashed his heat vision, just really nothing stronger than a hair dryer on low. Mindy shivered at the sight in the darkness. "Not Cass's part, never Cass's, but then there's me and some days, most days, I'm not sure what I am at all."


	3. Chapter 3

**May 9, 2013**   
  
"I don't get it," Kon said, staring up at his father.    
  
His dad sighed and for a second looked really frustrated at Aunt Kara. "What don't you get buddy?"   
  
Kon didn't need any prompting, he just curled up in his dad's lap but reached over for the day's gift. "Why did mom and Aunt Kara get your something for Mother's Day. They get you pink beanie babies every year."   
  
"That takes effort, too. Those suckers are not trendy anymore," his aunt said.   
  
His dad shook his head. "Well," he started, taking the pink squirrel in his hands and then letting Kon hold it. "It's just traditional. Your mommy got one for me the first year after you were born, even if I got her lots of flowers and things. It just sort of stuck."   
  
"But it's  _Mother's Day_ . You're my dad!"   
  
Kara grinned. "Well they don't have a  _Kangaroo Day_ , either, buddy."   
  
"Kara, can you go help Chloe with the dishes for a second?"   
  
She nodded. "Fine but I'm not doing them by myself."   
  
"You can do them in sixty seconds," his dad reminded.   
  
"Just because I can, doesn't make it fun," she replied before blurring away. Kon couldn't wait until he was that fast. Sure he was way faster than his mom or most of his family, but his dad and Aunt Kara were so fast that he sometimes couldn't follow them at all.   
  
"Is there something more?" he asked, frowning at his dad.   
  
"Buddy, sometimes I know things are confusing."   
  
"You got a toy for Mother's Day. I think I get it. I know it's a joke mommy and Aunt Kara have. I don't know why but they giggle a lot over it."   
  
His dad blushed and gave him a squeeze. "It was hard getting you here. Your mom was pretty sick when she was pregnant with you. It's nice to be able to laugh about it, definitely."   
  
He nodded. "And so you get a stuffed animal now so we can laugh and everyone's happy I'm here?"   
  
His dad kissed the top of his head. "Yes, exactly. We're always glad you're here."   
**   
  
**May 8, 2024**   
  
"That's incredibly cute," Alura said, grinning at his dad. "Pink gorilla, very nice."   
  
"I still think after sixteen years, we're going to run out of stuffed animals," his dad replied setting the little gorilla in Mo's grasp.   
  
His sister, as she often did, stuffed it in her mouth and started sucking on its head. She really loved to explore the world that way, but her favorite makeshift pacifier was the edge of his father's cape. It made Kon laugh whenever she did. His dad didn't intimidate criminals, not the way his Uncle Bruce had built his own reputation on fear. It wasn't in his father's nature for one; for another an almost all-powerful and definitely bullet proof superhero was a scary enough proposition on his own. The criminal underbelly of Metropolis was scared of Superman because Superman was essentially unstoppable. Still, if they saw him here sacked out with Mo or, God, even a little over a year ago pregnant, they would ever worry again.   
  
Um, not that his dad couldn't handle his own when pregnancy wasn't draining his powers. It was just hard sometimes to take him as seriously when you'd seen the morning sickness or Mo get hungry.   
  
Speaking of, Kon sighed and looked away a bit as his dad settled Mo in. She was working on getting into solid foods but wasn't quite there yet, although she only suckled about once a day. Kon was glad for that. He wasn't an ass about it. It was just that milk really shouldn't be mint green, should it?   
  
He frowned over at his cousin. His mom and Aunt Kara, along with Grandma Martha were all in the kitchen. They were finishing off dinner together. He, his cousin, his dad and Uncle Jimmy were passing the times watching the Wolverines unfortunately have get stomped by the Gotham Knights. Alura wasn't gawking at it per say, but she gave her dad and Mo a once over before arguing with her dad over changing it instead to Nickolodeon. Alura was too young for the big, alien secrets of their family, but she'd dealt remarkably well with the knowledge that her uncle had given birth to both her cousins, with having watched his dad in the final months. Hell, at nine, she'd done far better than he had. He wondered how it could persist and not faze her.   
  
He was learning to deal with his own feelings, with those lingering bits of him that were Lana. Some parts of this whole scenario would always gross him out. Of course, the thought that he didn't come from a stork and that his parents had ever done more than play tiddly winks (really, the were old, like almost forty old) wasn't a him thing. All teenagers never wanted to think of their parents or, in his case, his dad and Lana that way. So, getting over the fact his dad had a romantic life aside, it was still hard to think about having come from him. Most of that was the way Cassie sometimes taunted him about what ran in his family. As if he'd  _ever_ do that. But, okay, sometimes he imagined the huge stomach and the dear God giving birth and the nursing with the green milk. That was all  _nothing_ he wanted to or ever was going to do.    
  
Nope, no green for him.   
  
Still, his cousin and his uncle acted as if it was nothing weird at all, although this had been years of exposure for his uncle.    
  
"Kon, hey, how's that thousand yard stare coming?" his dad teased, stroking Mo's hair as she nursed.   
  
He shrugged and smiled. "Just long day."   
  
"Yeah, I can see how watching me and your mom open gifts is exhausting."   
  
"Well you might have gone overboard for Aunt Chloe," Alura added. "That was a really nice necklace you got her. Was it real?"   
  
"Yup, saved up four months for it, Lur," his dad replied. "I just..." he sighed and eyed the door. From there they all could see his mom working on some green bean casserole, absorbed in what she was doing. "...she's the mom."   
  
"Duh," Alura said, as if she weren't ten and this whole world they lived in wasn't insane.    
  
"I just meant that...help me out here, Jimmy."   
  
His uncle nodded and sat up more in the rocking chair. "Chloe really wanted to be the one for Mo. She's never complained. It's not who she is, but I get why your Uncle Kal did it the way he did, honey."   
  
"But Aunt Chloe is the mom."   
  
"Yeah, but she wanted to do it the way your mom did," Kon replied. "It's silly cause she's definitely our mom and she's awesome at it, but if an emerald solitaire makes her feel better."   
  
Alura shrugged. "That's silly. It's not about necklaces, Uncle Kal. We're just a very different family. It's what happens with the meteor rocks."   
  
His dad smiled at her and kept stroking Mo, now running one large hand against her back. "I wanted your Aunt Chloe to know how glad I am she gave me Mo."   
  
His cousin, with that odd preternatural grace she had---that sometimes his aunt drew from---just giggled again. "Oh she knows; she definitely knows."   
***   
  
**May 15, 2078 - 3 a.m.**   
  
_18 weeks_   
  
He sat down on the lip of the tub, glad that years ago his Uncle Oliver had thought to do more than add a second bathroom to the old farmhouse. His parents' bathroom had also been expanded to be at least twice the size it had been before he came along. It allowed him to not feel crammed in, all extra twenty-five pounds of him by now, next to his father.   
  
His dad, who looked pale as Hell, offered him a weak smile and brought the towel to his neck. "You should be sleeping."   
  
"If you say getting up is bad for the baby, I'd like to call pot-kettle on you."   
  
"You're not having morning sickness anymore," his dad whispered. "You're more than off the hook. We want you and Lara getting rest."   
  
He laughed. "Well I feel that way about you and Mara, even if she's not into cooperating."   
  
His dad nodded and then turned green. Kon looked away politely as his dad vomited. After a time, his father flushed and wiped the towel over his face. "Sorry."   
  
"It's okay. You only have five more weeks of transfusions. You'll be top shape and, well, literally glowing in no time."   
  
"It's hard."   
  
"I know."   
  
"I love your mother and sister, but I work so hard not to worry them."   
  
"I don't count?"   
  
"Not at 3 a.m., no," his dad said, easing himself up enough to lean against the sink cabinet. "It's tiring and I'm not stupid."   
  
"Well you do wear your underwear over tights," he drawled, grinning broadly.   
  
"It's a sartorial choice. I know I'm not fooling your mother. Mo's never seen me like this, and since you two are both here, I don't think she gets how hard it is. I just want them not to worry. I'm exhausted and feel terrible but if I can get to when Mara's got her powers online, then it's so much easier. There's a lot to be said to self-healing like they have."   
  
He nodded and reached out, prepping another cold washcloth for his father and handing it to him. "That other one? Totally gonna need to be washed. Just relax, okay. It's not like I have work tomorrow. I can be late to training with Cass."   
  
"Who I noticed is at her stepmother's house."   
  
He nodded. "She's been staying a couple days with Mindy. That girl bonding stuff. I think they're planning out things, like not the shower stuff, Mo would kill her if they planned that without her." His dad laughed and Kon waited for him to stop before he continued. "It's the clothes and stuffed animals thing. I hope we don't come up with a pink nursery, wherever Lara and I end up."   
  
"There's space to get converted, but I assume after a bit here, you'll go back to San Francisco."   
  
"Yeah, we, uh, might have to stock up on an extra crib for the nursery. I don't really want to leave the farm until you're all set too."   
  
"Noble."   
  
"Filial," he corrected. "It's nice though that she and Mindy are so on board with this. It's awkward and I'd be the first to admit the last time around I was an asshole and made so many mistakes---"   
  
"And this isn't like with Carter. I'm glad Lara's other family is being so into this. It'll do her good to have the Carpenters in her life, definitely."   
  
Kon nodded. "I think so," he finished, stroking his stomach. "Sometimes I forget."   
  
"Forget what?"   
  
He shrugged. "How weird or just different it must have been to grow up like Jax or to be like Lara, even Alura's cousins on Jimmy's side are normal."   
  
"Less eccentric," his father corrected.    
  
"Still, I'm not bitching about it, but I didn't get to know the human part of myself and, even when I did, she wasn't worth meeting. I mean, I get you're glad everything happened cause I wouldn't be me, but my human half's not so awesome, and mom's human, yeah, but she's meta. So everyone in Mara and Mo's life is superpowered."   
  
"You're just wondering what it's like for Jax to have had a human sister or for Lara to have cousins she can play with who aren't like her exactly."   
  
"Actually, depending on how good she gets with Cass's ability, she has a cousin who is third gen at this, essentially."   
  
"I didn't know."   
  
Kon shrugged. "I didn't either until Mindy told me. I think it's a relief for them that that girl will have a relative---"   
  
"Who understands, yeah. I'm glad it goes both ways. I just...I hope Lara feels she belongs here."   
  
"You and Mo don't feel that?"   
  
"Do you?" Kon countered, frowning. "Not saying I'd feel at home if Krypton were around to live on. Judging by 'grandpa,' they wouldn't care for me. I...I know Lara, like grandma Lara I mean, she's awesome. Aunt Kara got used to Earth and maybe some Kryptonians would have been cool with the half-breed thing."   
  
"I guess we'll never really know," his father added, rubbing the fresh towel again against his neck.    
  
"Yeah, true, I just...I guess it's hard to feel like Earth's home either. I mean, yeah, been almost seventy years, but it's so hard when if people knew..."   
  
"And not everyone is Lana or Kevin or just small minded. Why so mopey?"   
  
"I'm contemplative," he corrected. "Mindy and I just got to talking. Maybe it's an older woman thing."   
  
His dad arched an eyebrow at him. "Son?"   
  
"I mean she's got that calming side to her like Grandma Martha or like Lara even. We were talking over Mother's Day and she pegged me. I don't always feel like I'm human too. I want to, but sometimes it's hard to see myself as human as I am alien. I just want Lara to feel like she is. I mean I'm half and Cass is meta but still human overall. I just want her to feel---"   
  
"Better than you do," his father finished, sighing.    
  
Kon looked down at the floor. If they were being honest with each other, he had to go all the way. He just hated that this would add to his father's own martyr complex. "I have a good life. I have a great family and whatever Cass and I are or aren't, we have someone to love in common. Not a shabby career either, whether you talk about the League or my art. I have good things and I love them. It's just hard. I want her to feel things I don't. I really don't want her to feel like an accident."   
  
"You aren't."   
  
"I was unexpected," Kon said, blushing. "I just don't want Lara to feel like she's a fluke or that Cass and I work together because we have to for her. I mean, there's nothing I ever wanted more than a child."   
  
His father grinned. "That's how I felt about you, from almost the hour I knew. I was scared. Don't get me wrong and super embarrassed, and weirdly it wasn't the 'Oh god this is gonna hurt,' but it was 'I have no idea how to pay for anything' and 'Why is college like a billion dollars' reaction. I wasn't sure I could take care of you the best way. I mean, I was twenty, what did I know?"   
  
"God, that's young," he replied, not thinking about his own miscarriage. He'd really barely been pregnant at all then. Money aside, there's no way he could have seen himself still in college with an infant.   
  
"Definitely, but I wanted you. Chloe and Kara and everyone else, just as much as you love Lara."   
  
"I get that, I do. I just never want Lara to be mad at me."   
  
"Like you were with me?"   
  
He nodded. "Obviously there's a hold a grudge gene coming from  _both_ Cass and me. I was harsh on you over holding back everything and Cass took a really long time to warm up to her stepmom. I know I have to lie to Lara; it's how we survive."   
  
"Yes."   
  
"But I don't her to resent me for it, which is a lot to ask considering I was an ass."   
  
"Well Nala and Alura, even Mo after she calmed down when you told her. None of them have ever held a grudge over the Krypton part or having to hide it. I know that Mo's got so many issues about how immortal she is or isn't. I know that Jax...I can't even begin to understand what he feels about Dax-Ur, but none of them have been bitter about the necessity of who we are."   
  
"I know, but I worry some days Lara will be more like me than I'd like."   
  
"I hope she'll be exactly like you, actually, even if Cass grows on a person," his dad replied, patting his knee. "You're a good person, buddy. Most sons would have just let your mom handle the vomiting in the middle of the morning."   
  
"That wouldn't be polite. I can hear you anyway."   
  
"And that's why I hope Lara and even your little sister take after you."   
  
Kon smiled and helped his dad stand up, not mentioning how easy it was to lift him, how thin his father had gotten. "Then the feeling's definitely mutual."


	4. Chapter 4

**August 5, 2014 - Smallville, Kansas**   
  
"Daddy?" Kon asked, still looking out at all the stars shining in the night sky on the reservation. He was a big boy now. He'd finally be old enough to start going to first grade in Smallville and no longer preschool with the kids of the reservation. That made Kon happy. Smallville was where the normal kids were. Here were where the weird kids, like Grandpa Joseph's great grandpuppies or the girl who could change colors like a chameleon went to school.   
  
The kids like him.   
  
Now Kon could go to a real school with kids who were like everyone else. He knew he had to hide everything, like he promised his mommy and daddy. No one could know that he was special. Oh and of course for his cousin Alura who was coming soon, especially now that Aunt Kara was so fat. He promised that when school start in September he'd be very good and no one would ever know he could run fast or move things if he thought hard enough or fly.   
  
He'd pretend.   
  
He could do that.   
  
His father sighed and stroked Kon's hair. "What is it buddy?"   
  
"Graham Ravenfeaher---"   
  
"Has a grandma with a big mouth. What is it now, buddy?"   
  
He sighed and looked back at his dad. "He says that you're adopted, that Grandma Martha's not your mommy and you're better than that."   
  
Daddy said a word he wasn't supposed to repeat around mommy ever. Kon had heard that word already from Aunt Lois but he knew it was a word that meant he'd be eating soap soon so he just would rather not say it.    
  
"Grandma Martha is always going to be my mother. She was always my mother where it mattered and she's always going to be your grandma, do you understand, Connor Sullivan?"   
  
He frowned. Sometimes he didn't understand grown up things. "Of course. I love Grandma! She's the best."   
  
"Yes she is but Graham...more like his grandmother...they're not wrong, Connor. I am adopted. Aunt Kara found me when we were grown ups and we're related."   
  
"And you have the same powers!"   
  
"Yes."   
  
"And Grandma doesn't cause she's normal like almost everyone else."   
  
"Not like your mom. Remember mommy's special too; she doesn't get sick ever."   
  
He nodded and frowned again. He knew mommy did more than just never get sick but he wasn't sure what yet. Kon just knew it was very important but that she didn't want him to see her use her power yet. That made him sad sometimes and, other times, it made him scared. What was so big that his mommy couldn't share it yet?   
  
"But Grandma Martha's not your real mommy?"   
  
"She's my everything, Kon. She took me home when I could have been alone and sad for a very long time and she and Grandpa Jonathan always took care of me, love me very much."   
  
"But she's not your mommy-mommy."   
  
"Blood isn't that important, buddy. It doesn't matter if I have another mommy too. She died and Grandma Martha found me and has loved me ever since. I'm grateful to Lara, but your grandma  _is_ my mom."   
  
"But she's not the same."   
  
His dad spun him around on his knee and stroked his cheek. "You don't have to match to be family. Kon, I can't move things like you can and your mommy isn't strong and fast like we are. Does that make her not your mommy or me not your daddy?"   
  
"You're my kangaroo."   
  
"Same idea. Buddy, family is who you choose and I choose Grandma Martha and you and your mom. Aunt Kara is luck because someone from my other family did find me, is still alive and I love her very much as well. But, blood's not everything, do you understand."   
  
"I think so? So Grandma's my grandma even if we're not related?"   
  
"Always."   
  
He nodded and frowned again. "Daddy?"   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"What was Lara like?"   
  
His dad looked very sad, like he might cry which was weird cause dads didn't cry. That was what girls did. "I don't remember her very much, just one thing, buddy."   
  
"What's that?"   
  
"She wanted me to be loved, Connor Sullivan."   
  
"And?"   
  
His dad kissed his nose. "She got her wish, buddy; she definitely got her wish."   
***   
  
**September 25, 2046**   
  
Kon knew he'd find his father in the loft. He hadn't expected for him to be sitting on the couch under the afghan his grandmother had knitted for him as a shower present for his father during his first pregnancy. There was a large can of beer, a tall boy, drained on the steamer trunk. It didn't matter that his father had drunken it. He could drink rocket fuel and not feel it; it was the habit, something that they'd all learned to do. His mom still guzzled coffee and he knew Lex was a Scotch addict. Metabolisms didn't play much into psychosomatic conditioning.   
  
"Mom sent me up here."   
  
His dad nodded and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "Thank you."   
  
Kon stayed standing at the top of the loft stairs. "I don't know what to say, dad. Tell me what to say."   
  
His father turned and shook his head, a few stray tears still rolling down his cheeks. "There isn't anything to say. She was eighty-six, Kon, and she'd been fighting cervical cancer for three years. We knew today was coming."   
  
Kon nodded but felt like throwing up. "I can't...mom's doing all the calls and the arrangements. I just...why do they go?"   
  
His father sighed and it occurred to him that they could be taken for brothers now, that neither of them really looked much older than twenty five even if they were both far past that. Frozen but not really.   
  
"We'll go some day, buddy. One day we'll see Grandma Martha again and I'll get to introduce you to my dad and everything."   
  
For all his dad's earnestness, Kon noted that they'd never once been to church. He wasn't sure how far his father bought into aliens having souls either, at least not one's for wherever humans went.    
  
"I know but it was too soon."   
  
"Maybe. I know a lot of people live longer these days and you did the best you could. Sometimes, son, even the best specialists can't fix it. It just happens."   
  
"But it's too hard. I mean wasn't it two years ago it was Grampy Gabe? And Aunt Lois! She's back to smoking again. She says she hasn't but I can smell it on her."   
  
"I know."   
  
"We need to make her stop!"   
  
"We can't force everyone to live the way we want them to to try and prevent them all from getting sick, Kon. I...this was always going to happen."   
  
He nodded and shook his head, disgusted. "I was supposed to come up to make you feel better. After the call came and you blurred up here, mom really didn't want you alone."   
  
"I know and I appreciate that. I'm going to miss her forever because it's been over forty years and it hurts every day thinking about dad. I know it gets better but it's never the same. I got forty more years with her than with dad and I'm so very thankful for that. I got infinitely longer with my parents than I ever did with the real Jor-El and Lara. I have to be grateful for what the universe did give me."   
  
"You don't have to be Superman today. If you want to be mad, if you want to wish they'd caught it sooner or the treatments had taken, if you want to be mad that she didn't live to see me and Cass finally tie the knot or her great grandchildren, God, be mad!"   
  
His father shook his head. "I can't be mad. You don't understand. I was for so long over my dad. It ate through me for a long time, dragged me down and it  _was_ my fault because I let Jor-El the AI play me as a kid and take it out on dad. I don't have it in me to do that again for four or five years. I love her, I miss her, but I can't be angry, Kon. It's what happens."   
  
"But I don't want it to! I...almost all my grandparents now. I mean, it's just Lionel and he's, um, complicated and Grandma Moira---"   
  
"Is sick, yes," his father replied. "You're mad because you've noticed it starting. I knew it was coming since I was fourteen. I had this vision of me in a graveyard surrounded by the tombstones of everyone I'd ever known, but it was a lie, Kon. I have your mother and you and Mo. I have Kara and Alura. I have so much in my life that won't fade out in a century or even three. I mean, Diana and J'onn may be a bit on the acquired taste side but they're family too."   
  
"Fourteen, christ."   
  
"And I knew for sure when I was a junior. A psychic told me my life almost had no end, just went on, and I believed that, at least J'onn thinks we have a millennium maybe. I never expected for the woman I loved the most to be just like me, to have children to bear this with me, even if that's probably selfish."   
  
"No more selfish than I'm glad that you'll be there with me too."   
  
"Nope."   
  
"Kon, you'll get used to it."   
  
"I don't want to."   
  
"Neither did I," his father answered, sadly. "Tell you what, we need time, a lot of it, but in a month, maybe we'll go to the Fortress just to see Lara. She and mom...they never were an either/or. They just are. Lara's my mom and Martha was my mom and I loved them both very much. You have a grandmother, Kon, and you always will. Grandma Martha will always love you, and Grandma Lara---"   
  
"Isn't going anywhere."   
  
"No, I just...she must be so happy, you know?" his dad asked, pulling the old chenille blanket more tightly around him. "She missed dad so much. If you think me and mom are intense...they were always so perfect together."   
  
"I'm glad for that. I...do you want to share your favorite stories? Anything you want?"   
  
He nodded. "Let me tell you about the time she taught me how to cook the first time...the kitchen had holes in it for weeks!"   
**   
  
**May 16, 2078 - The Arctic**   
  
_My son, you've come back._   
  
Kon squeezed Cass's hand more tightly. It was always overwhelming to be greeted by Lara, to feel that love in its most potent form coursing through him, down to his bones. As bad as Jor-El made them all feel, as inferior and filthy, Lara made him feel safe and warm. She was like Grandma Martha and Grampy Gabe all together, all that security and understanding, even that wry humor.   
  
It was nice to even at past seventy have a grandmother of a sort.   
  
"I'm truly sorry, Lara. We were so busy with the namings and then Mother's Day. We're so happy to get back to training."   
  
More warmth flashing through him.   
  
_Of course, my son._ There was a pause and the warmth increased two fold.  _And Cassandra, being a proud parent suits you well._   
  
"It does better for Connor! He's eighteen weeks and already up almost twenty pounds," she emphasized this by stroking his stomach. "He's going to be a weeble in no time."   
  
He rolled his eyes but eased himself onto a chair like structure made out of crystals. It got tiring standing if he didn't have to. "Am not. I'm not gonna get superfat like dad did with me. Also, guess who's kicking?"   
  
_She's very active. I suspected you'd be able to feel it very soon._   
  
"Lara's very strong, like her grandmother," he added, grinning up at her.   
  
There was a pause, the air in the Fortress going still. Then something tickled through his bones and to his brain, heating all his muscles.  _Are you sure?_   
  
Cass nodded and stroked his stomach again. "We want this. Without you, she wouldn't be able to come as safely. It seemed natural. I, her name's Lara Lucia Kent. We like to keep our alliteration."   
  
_I am truly honored and even more happy to report training's with me today about Kryptonian music. I felt some culture my be best to ease you into training again. Did you know that your great great grandfather, **Mon-El** was a word famous  **flu-zoto** player?_   
  
"It'd be nice if we knew what that was!" Cass said as his grandmother began to tell them a tale for once that had nothing to do with intrigue or politics, and it gave him the best idea, something he couldn't wait to share with Cass once he and his grandmother had set it all up...


	5. Chapter 5

**April 1, 2017 --- Smallville, Kansas**  
  
He was at his desk, his hands already smudged with pastel. He'd really gotten into drawing after eighth grade when he'd been forced to take [classes](http://legendarytobes.livejournal.com/1469757.html)in it. He'd kept it quiet even from Cassie until he'd been coaxed out enough to do small things for the paper. While Kon wasn't a bad cartoonist---no _Peanuts_  talent but he tried---it wasn't where his interest were either. He'd have to confess that some of what he drew could be embarrassing. He never drew Cass  _like that_ , but he did, most often with her permission, sketch her out by the lake or, sometimes, from memory. It was nothing ever pervy, but it was fun to draw her and it wasn't as if she weren't on his mind often. Similarly, Mo portraits were popular; she grew so fast after all. It was nice to be able to have a record of her in addition to his uncle's photos.  
  
Of course, though, there were the landscapes.  
  
No matter how hard he tried, Kon could never get them the way he wanted. The colors would never fit what he saw, not that a human eye could tell the difference. It was just the things he dreamed always looked so much more vivid when he thought of them; canvas couldn't do it justice.  
  
Still, he worked at it, this time [working](http://legendarytobes.livejournal.com/1469757.html) on something slightly different, the three moons hanging in the horizon at sunset, but still of Krypton, and, yes, he had no idea why he saw it. It just was. Something he'd not talked with his parents about much or Lara, but it was a hobby they knew he loved and that they'd encouraged. Now, though, it wasn't a hobby. He'd just had a long conversation with his mom about the acceptance he'd gotten three days ago from Pratt and why he would be turning Columbia down even though he'd gotten their invitation this afternoon.  
  
His mom had said all the right things and a lot about how Mo would have to take up the family report tradition. Kon believed she was happy for him, but wondered if it was a blow still that he'd do something in art, something that Lana had had a talent for. Stupid thoughts, but swirling through his mind nevertheless.   
  
He was working on adding a bit of light violet hints to the dusk when his father knocked on his door. "Oh, hey, heard you coming up the stairs. It's not locked."  
  
Taking his cue, his father opened the door and sat down on Kon's bed. "Hey buddy, mom told me the whole deal. I didn't know about Pratt."  
  
Looking up from his [work](http://legendarytobes.livejournal.com/1469757.html), Kon set his pastel aside. "Uh, yeah, well it's pretty exclusive and if I didn't get in, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It'd be stupid to wait for months for everything. You know?"  
  
"Or it'd be months of us talking about how you're going to art school, about how  _you want_ to go to [art school](http://legendarytobes.livejournal.com/1469757.html)."  
  
Sighing, Kon looked down at his hands. "I didn't want anyone to feel insulted. I explained that to mom and Mo, sort of, but I figured it was reporting or bust."  
  
His dad quirked his head at him. "You don't have to be; we never said that."  
  
"I know but---"  
  
"Lana was talented. A lot of Americans don't get invited to study at the Sorbonne. I know you spent a lot of time when I was, um, knocked out we can say."  
  
Kon shuddered. His father was being unrealistically polite. He hadn't been just unconscious but had been recovering from being  _dead_. Some days, after all he'd done, Kon didn't know how he'd gotten so lucky to have parents who'd forgive him and take him back. "It was neat to see all the museums," he replied, ignoring anything else deeper from his winter with the Luthors.  
  
"And it's logical since we know you cartoon and you do so many great pictures of Mo. The landscapes," he added, gesturing to the work still in progress on his desk.  
  
He blushed. "But I wasn't sure I should make a living on it. For one, I know that drawing landscapes of a dead alien planet probably doesn't help me."  
  
"Help?"  
  
"Well low profile and all that. I mean everyone pretty much assumes I'm just a big fanboy of  _Star Trek_ or  _Lord of the Rings_ or something. I guess maybe that's what I felt like as a kid, even just thinking about the Krypton stories."  
  
His dad smiled. "You liked them a lot when you were little, much more than other things. I know that made your aunt so happy."  
  
"Did it make you happy?"  
  
"Yeah, actually, because when Kara told you the stories or wrote them out for me to read to you, then I got to learn about my family too. It was a communal thing."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
His dad blinks, floored by the non-sequitir. "You're sorry you liked the stories?"  
  
"No, I just...I was a real jerk."  
  
"I robbed Metropolis blind for four months when I was about that age. I'm not proud of it. Red K doesn't really act as an excuse because I was making myself drugged, kept doing it to myself. So I know what it's like to have something you feel you have to make up. I...your mother and I know about prices, Kon."  
  
"Because of me?"  
  
"In a way. Lex and Lana held the freedom of the four of us---mine and Aunt Kara's too, not just yours and Jax's---over our heads. If it had only been Kara and me? We'd have turned them in, no question in my mind. I could have learned to live on the run, to give up a life like other people had for the people in Belle Reeve and others."  
  
"But you didn't."  
  
"For  _both_ of you. Kara and I had made our own mistakes, her with the D.D.S. and me with ISIS to start. I handed myself to Lex the second I agreed to treatment at all, and that was my mistake but not yours and certainly not Jax's. I was never going to let you too be raised in a lab, ever."  
  
Kon shuddered, thinking back about what had eventually befallen his family anyway, that, for a time, Lex had had his hands on a Kryptonian to play with because he could. "I don't know. I'm not worth all the people who just went missing to ISIS or to Lex."  
  
"No, you're probably not."  
  
Kon blinked. "Oh."  
  
His dad shook his head and reached out to squeeze his knee. "No, I meant that I don't think it's mathematically possible for my sons to balance out hundreds of people, if not more. Your mom and I live with that every day, that we're supposed to be superheroes but we still chose our own when it mattered. It's like this slate we have wipe clean but probably can't."  
  
"So between this and your summer in Metropolis?"  
  
"I know what it's like to be selfish or to hurt people. You did something wrong. We set you up in a way because I could have handled everything so much better. It was your fault too, but you're not alone in what happened when I was pregnant with Mo."  
  
"I broke your neck."  
  
His dad squeezed his knee one last time and took back his hand. "You didn't mean it. I don't think any of us realized how much of a spurt you were going through and what the limits of your TK is. I don't know if you and Jax have a full idea of how far you can push it even now."  
  
"I never want to do something again like that."  
  
"Then there was a mistake and it happens and for six months you didn't want anything to do with Krypton, but it got better."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
He nodded. "Open book, although Cass and I are private." He was blushing so brightly and he hated that, the things he inherited from his father.  
  
"I wouldn't pry there but remember that pregnancy? Not as fun as it looks."  
  
" _Half human_ ," he reminded, refusing to think of himself kangaroo'ed out. "Then if it's not a father-son 'you should be a monk' speech, what's up?"  
  
"How do you draw what you draw? Kara explained what Krypton looked like to Jimmy and he's not a bad painter even if it's obvious photography is what he does. She tried for a long time to prep him about how to do your mural," he said, gesturing to the faded landscape on Kon's far wall. "He's not even close to what you do, even if you factored in talent."  
  
"I'm not sure I'm following."  
  
"How do you see it?"  
  
And the plaintive nature of his father's question surprised him, made Kon remember that his father still would always know Krypton as a foreigner would, from modules and holograms in the Fortress and from training, but never from his own memories. He'd just been too young.  
  
"I don't know. I've dreamed it for so long, they snuck in the older I got and replaced the memories of the lab at the mansion."  
  
His father stiffened. "I'm sorry for that."  
  
"We should keep a running tally between us," Kon said. "I dunno why I can do this. I think race memory is stupid and doesn't make a damn bit of sense. Still, I close my eyes and I just see it and it has to be something cause Aunt Kara's never corrected it, said I was wrong. If I could let you share this, I would."  
  
His dad pointed toward his newest piece. "You do. I just remember your grandmother's voice and the ship and even then it was because of some experiments I was tricked into."  
  
"And you and Uncle Lionel have the official strangest relationship evolution in history."  
  
"Maybe, but I had a lot of friends when I was a kid become my enemies and my enemies pull the reverse."  
  
"Lana and Lex."  
  
"Not always just them, but a lot them. When I was a little younger than you, I really thought, even if my secret was in the way, that Lex and I could make it, could be friends."  
  
"Weird."  
  
"Well in hindsight, yeah. Still, the Fortress gave me back a lot in training and the AI, well the Lara part, but the AI has some form of emotions and personality. It's a program, sure, but it's sentient and that's good, but I still know Lara's not my mother, not the real one. Mom says that when I first got here I talked all the time."  
  
"Cool."  
  
" _Not_ in English."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah," his dad replied, running a hand through his hair. "I couldn't even go into town for eight months because my parents had to wean me off speaking Kryptonian. Mom says "Lara" was the first word I ever spoke and that I said it a lot. I guess once I remembered her, that's good."  
  
"I'd have remembered you."  
  
His father's turn for confusion. "Huh?"  
  
"If they'd made it work, if they'd raised me without you, I'd have remembered. You're grown on people, Kangaroo."  
  
"Thanks, but I wish I could  _see_ it. I wish I had memories, however you have them, of what Krypton was like. Every time you have a new landscape or still life from that, it makes me feel just a little closer to that side of me."  
  
Kon nodded and was struck again by his father's odd existence, that he was fully alien but didn't know that part of it firsthand, that he was emotionally as human as his aunt was fundamentally always going to be Kryptonian. Again, he wished he could go back and kick his fourteen year old self in the ass for being so snide over it.  
  
"I'm glad you like them. I prefer my series of Mo myself but I can't  _not_ draw."  
  
"Exactly," his dad said, running out and returning with a package that looked like he wrapped it with a lead blindfold on. "I have something for you."  
  
"Um?"  
  
"Not a trick, buddy, promise."  
  
Kon nodded and took it. When he unwrapped it, he smiled. While charcoal and pastels were his preferred media, the paint brush set his father bought him for his oil work was beautiful and not cheap. "I don't understand."  
  
"I got off work early and bought them for you. We know you don't want to go to Columbia. It's okay. You can change interests. You have two gifts Kon and you shouldn't waste them; you see something beautiful and you should let others see it."  
  
"But you're---"  
  
"Not a farmer, am I? It's alright, son. It's alright."  
**  
  
 **May 17, 2078 --- Fortress of Solitude, The Arctic**  
  
At his own instruction his mom took Cass into Granville on the guise of looking for baby clothes and other things for the pending shower. It gave him time to see the AI. It amused him that a machine (which, granted, was a limiting word for what the Fortress truly was) could be so surprised.  
  
 _My son, you left only a few hours ago. Are you and my granddaughter sick?_    
  
Warm tone, the soothing nature easing through his mind and into his soul and how did she do that?  
  
"No, Lara. I...Cass liked the music lesson." That was being perhaps mildly polite. While he was sure Mon-El was a fine whatever he was in Kryptonian history, the instrument's sound was discordant to his senses. The best and almost impossible approximation of what he'd heard was a mandolin and a sitar fused together. Not culturally something he liked, but still the music of his birth family. While Cass hadn't found it much better, she'd enjoyed the break for something softer and more fun.  
  
 _I am pleased._  
  
He nodded and shifted from foot to foot. "Alura and Jax mentioned there was art from Krypton?"  
  
 _There is._  
  
"You have holos of that?"  
  
 _I do and you would like for me to show it to Cassandra as our next focus?_  
  
"Yeah, I'd really like that. I don't even know what it's like and human art's so varied. I'm sure this can take time as its own subject but maybe we could start with whatever they did on Krypton that was like painting and drawing and go from there?"  
  
 _We can. We are a long and old House. You are not the only artist from it._  
  
He sighed and looked down at his shoes. "I'm not great. People like my niche when I give shows. I love some of the work I've done of my family over the years, but I'm not like Da Vinci."  
  
 _Who?_  
  
"Oh right. I'm not the best to ever make anything here."  
  
 _That is still understatement for someone who has worked so long as an artist after Academy._  
  
"College, we call it. I never really thought that about Krypton."  
  
 _Art is a universal endeavor. Taste may vary, my son, but the existence of art does not._  
  
He blushed. "You noticed, uh, about the music---"  
  
 _It is not for everyone, but Kon-El it is not always war and politics and science in training. I regret that I had not clarified this sooner. It is moot now since you are taking it, but there is so much here for you all to learn and to keep learning about our home._  
  
Keep learning.  
  
"Thank you. Uh, grandmother?"  
  
 _Yes._  
  
"You know what I draw, that it's more than just family portraits."  
  
 _Mo Ru-Cek is always forthcoming._  
  
He laughed. "She's always that. How do I do it? Why do I remember Krypton sort of but my dad and my siblings can't?"  
  
 _You include the one from the House of Ur in that as well, as family._  
  
Kon sighed. His grandmother was not Jor-El, but she had some holdovers in her programming, something innate in the code from probably the ship's AI. There was still that eugenics-level of creepy pride that Little Lara's mother was meta, would bring something of strength to the family line. There was also an anger under the surface, a condescension toward Jax.  
  
"He's a good man."  
  
 _I do not believe in punishing for sins of the father, usually, but Dax-Ur's were so grave. We would have a home if not---_  
  
Kon banished that thought from his mind. Earth was his home and he was mostly sure if the legendary Kandorian refugees supposedly out there showed up tomorrow that he'd never go with them. "There's nothing to be done about that. I just...why me?"  
  
 _I do not know. I could not tell you either why you cannot do as Alura and Kara do. Some things about the red sun, even I cannot explain or predict._  
  
He winced. "About Little Lara---"  
  
 _I could not begin to tell you if she can erase memories, Kon-El. I do not even know how Cassandra's power will manifest with her. You see what you see and we can explore that more some day, but, for right now, I have no answers, merely pride in your gifts._  
  
"So this is like when I was seven and Grandma Martha put my doodles on the refrigerator? Proud like that?"  
  
 _Something like that, now let us plan what you would like._  
***  
  
 **May 18, 2078 - Smallville Kansas**  
  
Cass glared at him as he came through the backdoor to the kitchen. He ducked his head a little realizing it was already past midnight.   
  
"You were gone a long time. I was worried."  
  
"I'm not patrolling, of course," he said, going to the fridge and drinking some milk, carton and all. Damn it, it tastes better that way. "I had something to run late with."  
  
She quirked her head at him. "And?"  
  
He shrugged. "A me thing. I'll show you this afternoon."  
  
Cass's expression softened. "Oh so for me?"  
  
He pantomimed zipping up his lips. "No extra details," Kon added, putting down the carton. "You were worried."  
  
"A little. Your dad said you had to do things but a small part of me was like 'he better not even be doing reconnaissance at the 'Tower.'"  
  
"I can go out."  
  
"No, I know," she said, crossing the kitchen and reaching down to stroke his stomach. He was almost nineteen weeks and about as many pounds. It still looked like a lame bit of beer gut if you didn't know him. Smiling, he put his hand over hers stroking Lara.   
  
"It's nice you worry."  
  
"I...after Carter and even the first time we had no real clue on, I'm more of a basket case than I like to show. Plus, I'm not stupid and Mo was more than happy to tell me about how your dad got shot pregnant with you once."  
  
He sighed. "I promise, no stopping abductions or robberies or anything else for me." Kon pressed a bit harder on the back of her hand. "You don't have to worry. It'll be fine."  
  
"Lara and Dr. Thomkins, even your mom's readings on the sly think so. Sometimes though, if I'm alone too long and I dwell on it, sometimes I worry that even the 15% chance this will go wrong will kick in. Hell, I think about Lex or Brainiac or Doomsday showing up right now when our lives are, yeah complicated, but coming together in order to ruin it all. I worry this is just round three in screwing us out of the thing we want the most."  
  
Kon didn't hug her, not because he didn't want to, he desperately did, but she wasn't reaching out to hug him or sniffling or leaning in too close. He didn't want to overcrowd her or make her feel put on the spot. It was so hard because they were coparents and this was a parental fear but they weren't lovers, not like that, so he wasn't sure if she could even deal with him closer currently.  
  
Instead, he squeezed her hand as tightly as he knew she could take, just once, and then softened his grip, letting his index finger stroke over the back of it. "Cass?"  
  
She shook her head, her voice quiet. "I didn't mean to go all 'after school special stalkery' on you. I just think things sometimes. I don't want there to be any stress for you and Lara so I don't share them much."  
  
"Do you share them with my mom? She's done this twice so far, and we both know my dad died once and was on death's door the second."  
  
"He's not looking that great with Mara," Cass admitted. "Maybe not as thin but only because you all started everything immediately. I've met mice with stronger constitutions."  
  
Kon nodded and thanked however things had lined up in his pregnancy so far that he felt fine, except for a bit off balance with the new weight and that freezing things thing. He was getting better at that. Really. "You two have each other though. Fawkes has already been through this so much, it's a routine."  
  
"It's never going to be a routine. I'm better. I just want this to work so badly."  
  
"What does work mean?" he asked. "I know the basic thing is Lara born happy and strong. Still what do we do later. I know that I want to be in KS for a while. I won't leave dad when he's sick like this and I have no idea what to do with a baby."  
  
"Um, Mo?"  
  
"I wasn't the main guy. If I had a midterm, obviously, it wasn't something I'd have to choose between. Not a question if I'd go to Teen Titans stuff or watch her with a fever. Mom and dad still had to cover immediate things and were there to handle the big stuff, especially if I screwed it up. I am really nervous that I won't be any good with an infant I can't just shuffle off on someone older or more experienced."  
  
"Me too. Been a long time since Jason was a baby and I was only eight then. Not exactly in recent memory. But then we stay here, we give her at least some time to shed those Irish eyes of hers."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"I assume you'll go back to San Francisco?"  
  
"And you to D.C.?"  
  
"It's one of the best firms for ACLU representation in the country. We do important work, Kon. How could I leave that? I know that when Lara's born, I'll go back, just as soon as she's safe."  
  
"I can have my studio anywhere and, yeah, I'm still CEO at LuthorCorp but I don't do daily things. Very few of the board ever interact with me because most don't realize I'm the nicest looking seventy year old about that you'll ever see."  
  
She sighed. "Aliases are nice, not gonna lie. I can't leave D.C. forever and I don't want to. I mean, at least not until it's time to 'start fresh' and when I can't hide what I am anymore."  
  
"I have super speed. That's good. I just you mentioned we weren't just co-parents with Mindy and Jason. I don't know if I'm ready to live with you-live with you."  
  
"You mean without intense parental supervision and without a lot of 'wallaby,'" her tone was not bitter but it was harder that it had been before.  
  
"I couldn't let you sleep next to me, Cass. I just am asking now what we are and I don't have an answer. I speak a few languages by now and there's not even anything in Kryptonian to explain this."  
  
"Baby momma?"  
  
He chuckled a little. "Something more than just co-parents but it's not lovers, maybe not ever again. We're no longer engaged---"  
  
"I remember."  
  
"But the Fortress says it never ended. By Kryptonian standards, that bond never really is mooted, not the way it is in human culture, not that I think like that but there's so much here and I honestly don't have a good shorthand for you since 'The love of my life who accidentally got me pregnant and now I'm dating again and hoping it pans out' isn't pithy."  
  
"I sort of wasn't kidding. I like 'baby momma.' It's a sweet deal when I don't have to waddle and have power glitches."  
  
"Har-har. I just, simple question, 'What do you want after she's born, Cass?'"  
  
"Can you come with me and start the next round and alias in D.C. with me? I...we don't have to even live together. I know after you feel not so scared to be away from Fawkes and Mr. Kent's baby 101 advice---"  
  
"So true."  
  
"...that there's where I'll be. We can have a house together or separate or I can live in Northern Virginia and you can live in Maryland if you need that mental barrier of a state away and just do weekends and holidays. I'm willing to see where this goes but not in Kansas."  
  
"And you worked too hard to leave what you've made for yourself. I just...living together is too difficult to think about. With mom and dad here, things can stay slow."  
  
"We could get a duplex," she offered, taking back her hand. "Kon, it's your pregnancy and your, well not to be bitchy, but nursing period after. You pick how we do this and I figure out how to accommodate. Luckily we know a ton of people with super speed."  
  
Forcing himself to smile, Kon leaned against the sink. "Seriously, 'baby momma's' so not all you are. What do we call each other?"  
  
She smirked at him and, to his surprise, leaned back down to kiss the swell of his bump through his t-shirt. "Girlfriend works for now."  
  
Kon grinned despite himself. He wondered where that would lead when his  _girlfriend_  saw what he and Lara had arranged. He could call her that, would love to start there out loud even if he recognized deep down that  _my everything_ was too soon to say but ultimately the truth.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW it's been about three years. I've been meaning to finish this forever since I literally have two more of these novels to go. Anyway, aiming for two updates weekly at least of this and Return to Me until I'm done. I'm getting things finally off my plate ;)

**July 25, 2031 - New York, New York**

“God, I’m nervous,” Kon said, pacing the floor of the gallery. All his pieces were up and while this was his first big solo show, and there could, _theoretically_ , be other chances, it was making him as nauseated as meteor rocks ever did. “I just, Cass, this is real. It’s not like my uncles called in favors or Grandpa Lionel.”

“Of course not,” She snorted. “You wouldn’t let them and Batz doesn't do favors.”

  
"You know what I mean. This is like I sink or fall with this, Cass."  
  
"You can get another show."  
  
"But what if everyone sees this and hates it. I mean, half of it is landscapes and I know people liked it enough to show it, sure, but what if it's just good enough to get a venue but not good enough to get good reviews and---"  
  
She kissed him then and he stopped for a second, relishing the feeling of her. "You'll do great."  
  
He smiled and blinked back a flash of heat vision; it wouldn't do to set the gallery on fire, would it?

"Cass, do you want to see the other stuff? I still say the landscapes are just repetitive."  
  
"But they're all of different vistas, aren't they?"  
  
"Yeah, they're something I have to paint, not what I want to. So it's different."  
  
"No, cool, your public won't be here for twenty minutes. What have you got for me?"  
  
Grinning, he threaded his arm through her crooked elbow and led her out to the gallery wing holding his works. They passed the landscapes of sunset and too many moons. He'd seen it all before but it didn't make painting them---refining him---any less compulsory. She smiled a little at his stained glass works. He couldn't do anything art wise telekinetically, wasn't deft enough for that. Still, he could only hang out with his Aunt Maddie for so long before trying works with glass. Hers were three dimensional arrangements that he figured only someone with her gift could make. He still was working on stained glass patterns, mostly abstract, but a combination of colors that were a delicate balance, something that his eyesight helped him to distinguish.  
  
"Nice," she commented, reaching out before he pulled her back.   
  
"No touching! I'll make you one but art's not to be touched."  
  
Cass rolled her eyes. "Alright, no touching your masterpiece, promise. So you have some landscape pastels, some stained glass windows and?"  
  
"Portraits," he said, taking her to the farthest corner beyond a partition wall. When they got there, he waved his arm at the array of work. "Some of it's a little, I dunno, I guess Batz wouldn't approve."  
  
She laughed at a few stylized panels done in the style of comic books, bright colors and all and even speech bubbles. Mostly they were of Superman, Supergirl and Fawkes, though one in all grays was a moody homage to the Batman. "Cute."  
  
"Well it's just a 'romanticized notion of the modern vigilante.'" He dropped his voice and whispered, "Not at all related to me, nope."  
  
"And the wall of Mos?"  
  
"She's a cute kid."  
  
"You're gonna give her an ego!"  
  
"Daily life and she got big so fast. I can't believe she's six."  
  
"She's seven, genius."  
  
"See time flies," he said, approaching the final set of images. "Like I said, it's not like I'd do a Titanic naked portrait of you. I just...you definitely inspire me."  
  
Cass reached out but stilled herself before running her hand over the canvas. "You did one of 'Ice Queen?'"  
  
He nodded and grinned. "That I already bought for myself. It's my favorite of the lot, but I don't mind the ones of you a bit younger by your lake."  
  
She paused at the final one and blinked a lot to try and stop the tears forming. "That's me and my mom."  
  
Kon stepped forward and draped an arm over her shoulder. He'd done a sketch from memory of her working on making a beaded necklace with her mom when she was about ten. Even then, in the picture, her mom was wearing a head scarf, true to life and the course of her illness.  
  
"It's really...I...thank you."  
  
"I put that on my tab too," he said, kissing her cheek. "I told you that you inspire me."  
  
"I can see that."  
***  
  
**February 27, 2063 - L.A. Area, California  
  
** "Kon, I know that you have the Titanic me back in our lead paint coated closet."  
  
"Lead is good. There are things Mo would snoop through."  
  
Cass laughed but tried to stay still. "Seriously, I don't know why you want to do Titanic me when I'm like over four months. I'm not showing that badly, but I'm not at my sexiest."  
  
Kon laughed and set down his charcoal. Walking over from his easel, he lay down beside Cass with one hand stroking the rise of her stomach and the other wrapped around the gleaming bracelet on her wrist. "I think you look great."  
  
She rolled her eyes indulgently. "So does this count as Carter's first portrait? We can't even show him this!"  
  
"It's for me," Kon replied, trailing a column of kisses over her throat, then breasts and to her bump. Mom's really right, it's a turn on."  
  
"Fawkes is odd."  
  
"We're all colorful. It's something I'm saving. It's like Mo all over again; I just want to remember all of this."  
  
She laughed and stroked his hair as he rested his chin on her stomach. "As long as this goes in the closet with the other one. I can never live this down at the 'Tower if you don't."  
  
"Definitely, no one should get to see like this," he said, emphasizing his point by kissing her on the lips. "You're mine."  
***  
****  
May 18, 2078 - Kawatchee Caves, Granville, KS  
  
"You know," he said, leaning against the stone altar. Yeah it was officially twenty pounds by now thanks to gross drinks and other supplements. It just threw a guy's balance being a growing kangaroo. "You could pretend to dress correctly for the Fortress."  
  
Cass smirked and spun around in a light cotton sundress that made his eyes itch. Kon blinked all his heat vision back as she replied to him. "It's more than warm enough for me, Mr. T-shirt and Jeans."  
  
He shrugged and set in the key, grabbing her hand and stumbling a bit with disorientation and nausea when the portal activated. He stood, leaning against her for a few minutes, calming his stomach until he could open his eyes again. "Thanks."  
  
"I live to serve," she said, helping ease him down on to a small outcropping of crystal and ice. It wasn't the main altar but it was comfortable enough to rest on. "Lara, how are you today?"  
  
His grandmother as kind and effusive as always, replied.  _Cassandra, how pleasant to see you today._

  
Was it possible for a machine to sound coy? Hell, it was possible for Jor-El to sound like a dick, so why not.  
  
"Always nice to be welcome," she said, rubbing her hands together and then sitting down beside him. "So more music?"  
  
Lara laughed.  _I promise there is more to Kryptonian music but it is so polite of both of you to pretend it agreed with your sensibilities. No, Cassandra, we have something better planned for you.  
_  
She grinned back at him. "So what on Earth could you have for me with the Fortress's help?"  
  
"Well," he said, gesturing to the wide cavern in front of them. "It's not exactly an 'on Earth' thing, you know? Grandmother, could you?"  
  
The Fortress dimmed and he scooted closer to Cass. "You'll like this."  
  
"So, um, movie?"  
  
_Something visual, certainly,_  Lara answered _. It is beyond obvious what Kon can do. I think his drawing appealed to you._

Cassie’s eyes widened as it began to dawn on her what he’d planned. “So it’s art today?”

“Yeah,” he said, grinning as his grandmother set up the holograms they’d looked at earlier. There were projections of all kinds---facsimiles of sculptures that looked like the crystals of the fortress except for their bright colors, there were portraits from his house, including one of Mo’s name sake among them, and then different types of paintings, including abstracts and landscapes. There were things recreated in mediums he didn’t understand, based on light and lasers to begin with, in colors he knew she wouldn’t perceive correctly. Everything was stunning and, thank God, not as specialized (read awful) as his ancestor’s music. “It’s like a gallery.”

Her smile was wide and split her face as she walked amongst the collected artwork before her. As Nala had done earlier, she ran her hand through some of the holograms, even if she knew better. Cass frowned when it didn’t work the way she’d wanted.

“It’s amazing.” She continued through the collection of art and stopped still at the final set up by the stone altar. That one wasn’t a hologram, was not from the past. It was a pastel piece---still his preferred medium after all these decades----one he’d made in secret yesterday for her. It was a sketch of what he hoped would be, of Cass sitting by her family’s pond with a young girl with long dark hair and, yes, too wide, anime eyes sitting on her lap. “You did this?”

“Last night. I had the time. I always said you inspired me, and you still do. I think I’ll probably go nuts capturing every minute of Lara’s life, the same way I did with Mo.”

His girlfriend (it was a start) smiled broadly at him and then walked over and planted a massive kiss on his lips. It was one that managed to raise goosebumps on his skin and leave him shivering in all the right ways. “I love it.”

 _This is most pleasing,_ Lara said, her tone wry. _Now would you all take a seat? We have much to cover about Kryptonian art…_

**

“You know,” he said, leaning against the doorway to her room, the one positioned on the other side of his parents’ and as far from him as possible. “We do have to stop meeting like this.”

Cass smirked at him and leaned up and kissed him. He relaxed into that gesture, and he’d missed that feeling. It had seemed so natural at the Fortress, despite the terrible fifteen years behind them, and now he didn’t want to stop. God, was he reaching the six month hormone influxes a bit early now?

He pulled back when his eyes started to burn. With them slammed shut, he held his hands up, aware he had to be blushing as keenly as his father ever had. “Wallaby.”  


Cass put a hand to his forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to work you up. I just…today was the best day I’ve had in a really long time. You spent so much time setting everything up, and the canvas is amazing Kon. Thank you.”

He nodded but kept his eyes clamped shut. Maybe it had been selfish of him, but he’d never learned the control with his heat vision that he should have. It had always been too overwhelming, too good to feel the contrast of his heat and her chill during intimate moments. Right now, Kon regretted that lack of control. He wanted to see her, to be able to ease her own worries, but right now he was going by hearing only.

“You’re welcome. So I had a good date planned?”

“Definitely,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’ll plan something soon. That’s definitely what I’d like to do, make it even. Again, if the kisses were too much---“

“No, it’s not that,” he said, gesturing to his face. “I haven’t even done that in a long time, except for New Year’s. I’m too worked up, and maybe we’re not ready for hot and heavy if you just accepted a label. I’m just glad you liked everything.”

“I loved it. Now I need some sleep before more training, and I will need to be rested to plot something even better with Mo and Lur.”

“I think I’d like that,” he said, squeezing her hand back as she shut the door behind her. It took a few breaths and a lot of thinking of baseball stats before he could open his eyes again. When he did, he almost wanted to groan. Mo was already standing in front of him and beaming a bright smile back at him. “You aren’t supposed to eavesdrop.”  


“Maybe my ears were acting up.”

 

He set his hands on his hips and glared down at her. Currently, Mo was the strongest being on the planet, but she was still far shorter than he was, even smaller than Mom. She was indeed a deceptive package. “Nice try. It’s my ears that have all the problems.”

 

“Maybe, should it be a wedding before Lara’s born? It’s not like Lex cares anymore, not with Lana gone.”

Kon’s throat went dry with that reminder. Lana’s death haunted him. She’d been scarred horribly, disfigured by Two Face after she’d betrayed him. He’d gone to see her at her bedside in Geneva and she’d threatened to do horrible things to Mo and his mom if he didn’t force Mo to heal her. She’d given him twenty-four hours to think the proposed terms over, such as they were. They basically boiled down to “deal with me or see your loved ones in a government cage.” But she’d…her neck had broken in Switzerland while she’d slept. He’d had a nightmare that night…but telekinesis didn’t work across distance that way. It couldn’t.

Still, some part of him was disquieted by it, by the scary thought that the four of them had never really explored the full limits of their TK, not with how strong they were. Often, Kon worried they were far more dangerous than even they’d assumed.

“Kon? Hello?” Mo said, waving her hand in front of him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, and it’s a lot of hormones, Mo. I just got Cass to agree to be my girlfriend.”

“Well that’s a demotion from ‘True One.’”

“It’s better than ‘baby momma,’” he corrected. “I’d love for her to be the True One again, and Lara says we can’t actually divorce by Kryptonian standards. It’s more about what she can do and what she can trust. Right now, it’s only dates.”

“That make your eyes burn,” Mo sing-songed.

“I suppose,” he said, walking with her down the stairs and to the kitchen. Once he was settled with a massive slice of apple pie (Dad baked a lot when he was nervous), he looked back at her. “It’s nice, though. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Oh, you never did.”

“But it feels good, right.”

“See, I told you that you and Cass were a forever thing.”

“Don’t jump too far ahead, Mo.”

“Still, you give everyone else hope. Or me. I dunno, you and Cass and Mom and Dad…the way Alura’s so good for Jax? It’s all nice to see.”

“Terry’s coming back, you know? Next weekend a few of the League were coming over so I don’t feel completely stranded out here.”

“A few?”

“Cassie S. wanted to see how it’s going too. I think she mentioned to Cass last time that she wanted to see me as a ‘weeble’ too.”

“Ha!”

“Anyway, last time you pretended he wasn’t even here,” Kon frowned and chewed thoughtfully on his pie crust. Could have used a bit more nutmeg. Dad was falling down on his job. “You should. Terry’s in his fifties now.”

“Believe me, I know, same age almost. I mean I’m a little younger even if I look _a lot_ younger.”

Kon sighed. She looked like she could be Terry’s trophy wife or daughter, but that wasn’t the point. It was like with Aunt Kara and Uncle Jimmy, what they looked like, frozen as young as they were, didn’t matter compared to who they actually were. “I’m just saying that you’ve wasted so much time, _Mo-Ru-Cek_.”

“No full names!”

“I’m serious. He misses you. I know he’s never stopped missing you. You could try.”

Mo nodded and her eyes started to well with tears, going so much bluer with them. “He’ll die.”

“Yes, but do you want to be with someone for fifty years or would you rather just keep on being alone now?”

“I love him. He’s…I really care about him, Kon. You’re not wrong. He’s the only good guy I ever dated, but I don’t know if I can watch him die. I’m not as strong as Aunt Kara or Alura. I know I’m not.”

“And you’re both miserable.” He shrugged and finished his piece. “Think about it this way. Cass and I fought things for a long time, and the universe had other ideas. Whatever happens or doesn’t, we’re still co-parents.”

“And dating so that went well,” she said, grinning through her tears.

“Still, sometimes you can’t fight things. Terry’s going to be here on Saturday so you have some time to figure out how to actually _notice_ him.”

“Okay, I’m not promising anything but thanks for the heads’ up.”

“Thank you.”

She paused for a bit, chewing on her lower lip the way Mom did. “Kon?”

“Yeah?”

“So Jax is coming too, right?”

“Yeah, Cassie S., Terry, Jax, and Alura will be over. I think they might take Max and Nala with them. Lur said Nala misses the farm.”

“I think it makes this more real when the whole family’s around. You tried, but I don’t think any of it really started to sink in until I could ask Dad about a billion questions.”

“Exactly. So Saturday is definitely a full house. Why?”

“I dunno. He’s just acting so off.”

“He’s always off. Has been since---“

“Jessie, I know,” she said. “I still think him wanting to help with the OB/GYN stuff is sweet, but weird. I doubt you or Dad want to get _that_ close to Jax. I’m not into having kids.”  


Kon suspected that part was a lie, that if she could, Mo would have. There was no guarantee she even could. After all, their mom couldn’t. It was just too much strength in their immune systems to deal with foreign tissue. Still, the way Mo doted on Nala and Max, the way she was going out of her way with Mara and Lara…she loved being an aunt.

Kon shook his head. He’d just work on getting Terry and Mo back together. He wasn’t up to other challenges yet. “But?”

“I miss him, that’s all. I’d even watch stupid Baywatch or something to get him back.”

“One thing at a time. How about we see if you and the Dark Knight---“

“Kon,” she warned.

“I’m serious. Just see if that rhythm is still there. It’s not like you’re not stuck with a ton of extra Watchtower shifts anyway. I think you’ve spent so much time being scared, not being happy at all cause it might end.”

“I have and just telling Mom and Dad that I think I’m really immortal doesn’t help. You all can be nice to me, but you can’t stop it.”

“You could just ask Lara.”

“I can’t. Not yet. When Mara’s an adult…we’ll go together. I’ve worried about it for thirty years, and I can do it another twenty, but I can’t live if the answer sucks. I can’t do that alone.”

He stood and hugged her, sweeping her up in his arms, smiling a little to himself even as the Lara started kicking. “Someone loves their aunt already.”  


Mo sniffled and pulled away from him and leaned down just enough to speak to his bump. “Lara, I love you too, and I have so much trouble I’m going to get you into.”

Rao, that’s what he was afraid of.


End file.
